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.