Growing Unevenly

Growing Unevenly

     I’m a “budding” gardener.  I also like learning new trivia.  Recently, on a gardening blog, I learned that vines grow faster on one side than on another.  Why?  Hmm.  I decided to put my observation skills to the test and watch my grapevine grow.  Well, not literally watch it grow, but check it out now and then to see if it grew unevenly.

     Sure enough, it did.  While one side anchors down and grabs whatever trellis, stick, or pole that it can, the other side ventures out, exploring, crawling, waving freely in the wind, waiting for something to latch on to securely.  The sticky little tentacles then wind and wind around their captured item. 

     Now, how do these little tentacles know to wrap around these supports?  It’s the sense of touch.  When these tentacles make contact, it stimulates the tentacles to unfurl and grab on.  Fascinating! 

     When I learned this plant factoid, I immediately saw a metaphor for our Christian growth.  Hopefully, we’re all anchored securely to Jesus.  He is our sustenance, our foundation, our strength.  We’re wrapped around tightly. 

     Yet, sometimes we also need to venture out…in order to grow.  If we only kept our little vines tightly wound, with no spread and growth, well…they’d stay very little.  Maybe it can be a bit scary to venture out, especially if we’re not sure what’s out there to hang on to, and we’re literally twisting in the breeze.  Maybe we just plain don’t know where we’re going or where we’ll end up.  I feel that way, sometimes.  I like predictability, I like security, I like knowing what’s out there. 

     But, just like those wandering vines, it’s amazing to see God has a plan for these plants to survive and thrive, just as He does for us.  What a beautiful word picture:  as we reach skywards, maybe not always knowing  the who, the what, the when, the why, the how…God’s there, all the time, waiting for us.  We might meet somewhere.  We might grab on to Him.  But when we feel His touch, we have a place to land, until we’re prompted to grow some more. 

     Where’s God calling you to grow this summer?  “Weeding” out and exterminating some thorny issues or pests?  “Pruning” some distractions or unhealthy aspects out of our lives?  Releasing our tight grip on our security and stability and “growing” our vines wide to new opportunities and challenges?  “Watering” our potential and letting it thrive?  “Basking” in the sun and soaking up some knowledge?  “Shading” someone who needs our coverage right now, via extra prayer?  “Producing” fruit as a result of our labors? 

     Growing unevenly might seem unbalanced, or risky, in a world that appreciates symmetry or even safety.  But as we so clearly and beautifully see in God’s plan for our growth, it takes us exactly in the direction He wants us to grow.