Transplanting

They came in a can. I opened the lid, set the can by the window, and added water...a little bit...every other day.

After a couple of months they looked like this:

I was thrilled that something was at least growing in my house! My roses, parsley, and lavender have all turned brown and dried up. Maybe I have a "black thumb" (as my mom likes to say!)

I admired the tomatoes in this can for awhile, marveling at their ability to grow and produce fruit. How something can come from seemingly nothing is always amazing to me!

 I finally realized it was time to do something with them, since there wasn't much more room for them to grow in the little can the seeds came in. So I started the transplanting process:

 Slowly, carefully taking out each individual plant and gently pulling it out by the roots and placing it in a bigger container with new soil.

Ta-da! :-)

I'm sure those little plants are happy to have more room to breathe. I'm sure they would have started to shrivel up had I not moved them to a bigger pot. I'm sure their roots would have become tangled or moldy if they were not separated. I'm sure that now they can GROW.

Isn't that the point of transplanting? Giving something more room so that it can grow? I worked in a greenhouse one summer and stood for hours on end in a type of assembly line, poking my fingers into soil, making room for seeds to fall into, or for small vegetables or flowers to be transplanted. 

Growth is linked to transplantation. Yes it is also linked to other factors like water and sunlight, but if a plant continues to receive water and sunlight while it remains in a small pot when there is potential for more, it will not grow fully or healthily.

In the last few months I've seen growth in my own life, and I realized it's because I've been transplanted. I was reading through some old journal entries the other day in which I recorded parts of our journey of contemplating moving to Germany and praying about what we were supposed to do after Bible School. Allow me to share this entry from April 13, 2011:

Ecclesiastes 3 says 'There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven. ' What stood out to me is verse 2 - 'a time to plant and a time to uproot.' It seems that leaving Prairie will in a sense be uprooting. But Germany won't just be about planting; it's about trans-planting. Perhaps this Bible School is too small of a pot - good for a season, but ultimately my roots won't be able to grow any more or expand to their full potential. Moving Germany isn't  about destroying what's already been planted in my life, but about transplanting so there's room for more growth.

Little did I know at that time exactly what type of "pot" God was transplanting me into. Here I am now, over a year later, having lived here for 9 months and having experienced so much, being challenged and changed along the way. 

Looking back I know that if we had not moved here my roots would have remained shallow. If I had stayed in my small comfortable pot soaking up the sun, I never would have grown and expanded like I am doing now. I was so content with where I was back then and wouldn't have minded staying there forever, but God had a bigger pot for me.

I feel like I am in such an exciting season of life right now; it is hard to describe. It's not always easy, but I simply know deep in my heart that yes, this is indeed where God wants my husband and I . I never would have dreamed it and some days, on the hard days, I wish it wasn't so, but I know God is doing a deep work in me. This doesn't discount the last "pot" I was in - it was extremely vital soil for me to learn to bloom and bear fruit in. But whenever God takes us out of our comfort zone by transplanting us, it means there's even more potential. It feels sometimes like the rug is being pulled out from under my feet, or should I say that my roots are being harshly yanked out from the soil I was so familiar with, but as I settle into new soil - spiritually, emotionally, relationally - my roots find their way down and I am strengthened and refreshed, excited about the potential for more.

Jeremiah 17:

⁵ This is what the Lord says:

“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
    who depends on flesh for his strength
    and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
⁶ He will be like a bush in the wastelands;
    he will not see prosperity when it comes.
He will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
    in a salt land where no one lives.

⁷ “But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
    whose confidence is in him.
⁸ He will be like a tree planted by the water
    that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
    its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”