Thought For The Day - Friday

Rose of Jericho – Resurrection plant

The Rose of Jericho is a fascinating plant, it can live without water or any care for years but give it a little water and it comes back to life within hours and this fits perfectly with my thoughts today.

I’ve been musing again……..I’ve been in the garden this morning, working on the flower beds and clearing way for the bulbs and perennials to flower anew. It got me thinking about the time of year it is, the resurrection in particular, and the times we are in. As lockdown restrictions start to tentatively ease I couldn’t help but see the similarities to the new buds coming out.

As the days warm and the sun shines that bit brighter you can see the buds start to slowly reach out towards the light, towards the warmth and the light that is the sustenance they need to grow. As we, like the buds, slowly step outside again into the light and the warmth of something getting close to normal life we can start to grow again. We can come back to life after a long winter of stasis.

It seems when we put our gardens to rest over winter that they have gone, and of course there is always the question of whether certain plants will come back in spring, but they have a resurrection, they come back! This then got me reflecting on the resurrection and the apprehension the disciples must have felt.

‘So the Jews answered and said to him, 'What sign do you show to us, since you do these things?' Jesus answered and said to them, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.' Then the Jews said, 'It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?' But he was speaking of the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he said this; and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had spoken’ (John 2:18-22).
The disciples thought too that Jesus was gone, but Jesus had spoken about His resurrection many times and after a time of wondering what might happen they were overjoyed to see He had risen and was back.

In the plants that leave us over winter we can see the wonder of resurrection and new life and feel joy at the showing of the first buds, and in a way when we get back to our lives we will have had a resurrection of our own. We will again see the joy and light of the world and we can bask in the warmth of knowing we will soon be back to our lives.

There is some question on whether this easing of lockdown and the vaccines will work and so, when I’m back out in the garden planting the potatoes, onions, carrots etc I will be planting a prayer with them. A prayer for the resurrection of our lives, our stepping out from this long, dark winter of Covid-19 and a prayer for everyone in the world that we all find the sun and warmth again and that with the guidance of Jesus we will once again be resurrected.

Sian Binley – Pioneer ALM