Renewal at a Price
A story about Jesus and clearance plants
The obsession first began with purchasing just a few plants. They were pretty, and fun to water and care for. I loved giving them the care they needed and watching them grow and flourish. Watching the plants grow, I realized something: The plants actually grew towards the light, slanting their bodies to get more. Then just a few plants grew to a few more, then more. I then found I could buy plants on sale or clearance because they had been neglected and had brown, dying leaves. These plants on sale looked as though they had no life left in them, they had just given up. I knew that even though the outward appearance was grim, the plants’ roots remained strong, only in need of attention and love. I learned that buying these clearance plants, I could cut off the old dying leaves and stems, and with a bit of love and care, providing the light and nutrients they needed, these sad, dying plants would recover and thrive once again. These plants would grow back the stems and leaves they once had lost. Just like the Hebrew word tsemach, which refers to a green shoot or a new sprout growing out of an old stump; these sad plants of mine returned to life.
In Zechariah 3:8 it says: “I will bring forth my servant the branch.” (Hebrew= tsemach) Jesus is “the branch”, the new sprout that forms after the dead has been cut away, just the same as my clearance plants come back to life after they were pruned of their old dying pieces; we have hope in a new life once our blackened past is pruned from our lives. Jesus takes us and all the blackened sins of our past and cuts them away, giving us a fresh start. Jesus is the master gardener; He is the light we yearn for and provides the food for our growth. Looking at my plant addiction, I never thought I would see God, but there he was all along, teaching me. In the same way I tend to my plants, Jesus tends to us, I cut away the old of my plants so they may make new and more substantial growths. Jesus died for our sins, in human form he suffered for us so that we may have our blackened, sinful past cut away forever. When I cut dead leaves or stems off a plant, I throw them in the trash. Jesus cuts/ takes away our sins of the past and throws them away, we never have to see of relive those sins again. “I will bring forth my servant, “The Branch”, (Zachariah 3:8) to form a new “sprout” in your life. The old is gone and the new is in Christ Jesus. “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness” (1 John 1:9) I bought my clearance plants to revive them, to give them new life. Jesus paid the ultimate price for every one of us, a fee paid to redeem us from our sins. We have been purchased at a charge and given a light to guide us. I couldn’t be happier that I am so loved, even when my branches and leaves are blackened and dying from sin. It was then that Jesus paid that price to cut away my old and give me life through him.
I look at my plants now with a whole new light. Anytime they need water or light I think of Jesus. Anytime I rescue a sick and dying plant on sale, and cut away the old to make the new, I think of Jesus. He constantly prunes me of my sins and provides me with light. I will forever lean toward my master gardener. “Lord, I am confident of this very thing: you have begun a good work in me, and you will complete it until the day you return.” (Philippians 1:1)
Sara Clark
TCM Board Member
The Conversation
I love this Sara! Such wisdom from the Word of God! And now, WE can be a branch! Jesus says in John 15 “I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful…Remain in me, as I also remain in you…If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.”
Sara, there is hope for the future when, like you, we see God in His creation as we care for our plants and we find Him in His Word. And now, being a part of the vine, we are equipped to “go and bear fruit; fruit that will last.”
Excellent advice to us all. There is nothing so bad that He won’t forgive (take away) and we get another chance at a new beginning.
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sin (to Him) He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” And He will do it every day.
Your story is a beautiful example. Thanks for the reminder.