Consider the Lilies
Table Talk
Setting the Table
You are welcome here. Come just as you are, bringing whatever is on your heart today. Take a few moments and allow yourself to just be. Take a couple deep breaths, grab yourself a cup of coffee, light a candle, do something that brings you comfort. Allow yourself to be present in this moment.
Imagine a freshly-planted flower – its roots adjusting to the new earth around it, its stem slowly strengthening with every sip of water, and finally its face beaming up toward heaven, ready to grow.
I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.
- Abraham Lincoln
Jeremiah 17:7-8
Blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.
1 Corinthians 3:9
For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
Food for Thought
My friend Scott raises daylilies. He started it as a hobby during COVID and has become quite the expert with any number of varieties. I have a plan for flowers in my own yard – the problem is I know what I like but have no idea how to grow them or where they might be best placed.
I do know that daylilies are hardy plants, so I asked Scott about how many extras he might have on hand. He happily obliged, asking about colors I might enjoy and how many. I said 10-12 and the typical yellows and oranges were fine. When I asked about specifics, Scott confirmed that these were indeed hardy plants with no real special needs. He instructed me to water them well the first week or so, and they would be fine. These flowers tend to multiply and bunch, so I knew they needed room to mature. They are planted along the driveway so I can hopefully, someday, see some bright colors as I leave or come home.
I think about the journey of these little daylily plants. They were uprooted from Erwin, Tennessee, where the soil is a bit more rocky and maybe more nutrient-rich based on the flower garden from whence they came. They were placed in a bucket and brought to me where I then dug holes for each of them in ground that was a bit more dry and perhaps more porous than their original home. I planted them, watered them, and now I wait to see what will come when they bloom. They looked fairly stressed when I put them in the ground but have since become green and appear healthy even after the extreme heat we have had in middle Tennessee.
I’m reminded of our own journeys toward becoming planted or rooted. Healthy rootedness requires some intentionality. Our ability to root, or our choice of where to root, depends on what we need to not only survive but to thrive – to grow and to flourish. It seems that when we are rooted with intention – with attention to the health of our community and soil, and with attention to the space we are given to grow – we can be rooted in places that lead to our overall well-being. Otherwise, we may find ourselves in places that lead to stagnation and being “stuck”. I believe "root-bound" is the term. As our own lives are occasionally uprooted with job changes, relationship distress, family dysfunction, we need to look at what it is that keeps us grounded in place toward healthy and life-giving goodness.
When I moved from Johnson City to Chattanooga in 2000, a dear friend offered to pray for me. I am not one to feel comfortable being “prayed over,” yet I agreed as I knew her blessing would be just that. She prayed for me to have all the things one needs in order to leave a home and go. She also prayed for people to receive me – for a community that would love me and care for me. She was, in essence, prepping the ground where I would plant myself. I had prepared myself for the move, doing all the things that are necessary, but she knew me well enough to know that for me to grow, I would need community to thrive. I try to pray this prayer for myself and for others as new opportunities present themselves – whether those opportunities are wanted or thrust upon us.
As I think about what may come my way and the unpredictable ways life turns, I know that to root myself is to be intentional about what I need. What are the daily habits that sustain me? Who are the people with whom I surround myself? How do I structure my time? It isn’t easy. We are tossed about in life and have to remind ourselves to whom we belong. God provides those people and things to remind us.
Just like the daylilies, we find ourselves growing and adapting in new ways. What might bloom remains to be seen. But will there be a bloom? Guaranteed.
Plant a flower. Be intentional about giving it the water, sun, and the nutrients it needs to flourish.
Draw yourself as a flower. What kind of flower would you be? How many petals would you have? What colors would you be? Would you be a flower planted lovingly in a garden, a wildflower, a flower that springs up between the cracks in the pavement? Get creative!
For a printable version of today's reflection Click Here!
Blessing
Attentive Gardener,
Look after us as we go about this life.
As we are uprooted, help us find places to root down again.
Give us the nutrients we need to thrive and flourish,
and may we honor you with the beauty of what blossoms.
A little Table Talk for your table...
Share with a friend something that makes you feel grounded. Is it your community, a daily habit, your faith?
If you don’t feel particularly grounded in your life right now, what are some things that could help you feel more rooted?
Sometimes, in order to feel truly rooted, we need more room to grow. Discuss what this means to you.
Try taking it to the Kids Table...
Discuss the idea of feeling “grounded” with your kiddo.
What are some things in their life that make them feel grounded?
Try a fun experiment to illustrate how a flower can adapt and change based on what it absorbs. It matters where our roots are planted!
Meet Our Welcoming Voice!
Khette Cox is an ordained minister who works as a chaplain in healthcare, and in her spare time is learning the piano, enjoys watching live music, and loves life with humor and a sense of the sacred. She lives in Old Hickory, TN where you will probably find her on her front porch waving at her neighbors.
To hear more from Khette throughout the week, follow along on our Instagram!
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