Split!

Okay, so I was just about to give up on my little oddity sitting on my desk. I thought maybe it was just rotting in the water. It had been 6 weeks, and the internet instructions I had found said that it ought to start sprouting anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks after being "planted" in water. I thought I had a dud.

Well, just about a week ago now, I picked up the little seed and notice something interesting. The bottom had split open, making it look like an 9.0 earthquake had opened a fissure in the earth. I was hopeful, but a fissure wasn't the goal here. I still saw no trace of a root on the bottom, or a shoot out of the top.

But hope springs eternal, so I waiting some more. This morning after I refilled the water, I lifted it up again to see if something was there. And something was there! Poking about 1/4 inch from the bottom is a root! IT'S ALIVE! IT'S ALIVE! MUWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Okay, I didn't really do a Dr. Frankenstein, that was just for effect. This is a low-budget operation. But it was good at last to see some results.

It is fascinating to me that just when the seed seemed to be totally dead and unresponsive and useless was when the root finally burst forth. This could have some allusion to spiritual life. Sometimes it seems that until we had been totally emptied of ourselves been brought low and humbled that we are finally at a place where God will use us. When we don't have a leg left to stand on, then finally when God does something through us or for us, it can then be undeniably His doing and not ours.

Another thing about this new development. The first sign of growth was in a place that couldn't be seen easily -- the root. It was under water and I didn't see it until I lifted it up. We ought to be encouraged to let our roots go deep into the soil of God's word before we can expect that green shoots will come up, or the outward evidence of God's work in us. I think that ultimately, God is more concerned with the roots than the plant anyway, metaphorically speaking.

So we'll see what happens with my avocado....seedling? I think it has graduated from a seed to a seedling, according to this layman.

Between the Testaments

I started my little avocado tree project with lots of optimism and gusto, all ready to nurture a cute little shoot from my impulse. I have diligently kept the water level right up to the top of the mug that it sits in, and made sure a light source was readily available.

Something I read somewhere on the internet said that it could take anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks for a shoot to appear from the seed. This has just passed 4 weeks, and there is not even a hint of anything alive. No roots from the bottom, and no splitting of the top to give way to a green shoot. Just a grungy looking, gradually shriveling seed.

So I will myself to just continue to care for this thing and see what happens. Sometimes it seems pointless and I think maybe I ought to just abandon this. After all, this is not my job. It's just a little avocado pit, rescued from some guacamole.

But then I started to think about the nation of Israel. From what I understand, there was about 400 years between the end of the Old Testament portion of the Bible and the new. Many prophecies were given of the coming of the Messiah that would bring salvation and redemption to His people.

But then the days stretched into weeks and months. Without any word or inspiration, years and decades and even centuries passed by. I've waited 4 weeks for a plant where they waited 400 years for a savior. I would think that many Israelites began to think that nothing was going to happen. People were born, raised and died with no sign of the promised one.

In fact, they waited so long that when it happened, and Jesus appeared as a baby in tiny Bethlehem, no one noticed, except a few select individuals. I have a feeling that I'll come into work some morning and see a small crack in the top of the seed on my desk. When I do, I'll smile and think of my Messiah.