Uprooted

By Susan Dollyhigh –

The gladiolus plants stood tall and proud in my neighbors’ garden just waiting to burst forth into bloom with their beautiful pink, purple, red, white and orange flowers. But my neighbor decided she was tired of her gladiolus garden so she uprooted them – flowers, stems, bulbs and all. Tossed into a pile, they were destined to be thrown away.

As any good neighbor would do, I walked over to see what was going on and arrived just in the nick of time. I scooped up an armful of the long, green stems with the bulbs still attached and rescued those orphaned plants. As I prepared to transplant them in my garden, I noticed the dried-up, brown, onion-looking bulbs were actually, well…ugly. But I knew inside those bulbs lived everything they needed to once again grow strong, tall stems and produce beautiful flowers. The bulbs just needed someone who cared to replant them in just the right soil.

Sometimes we, too, may be uprooted in life. Major moves, divorce or loss of loved ones can all leave us feeling uprooted. We may feel that we’ve been thrown away by those we love and maybe, even by God. We may feel that our heart has withered down to just an ugly, brown bulb.

But just like that gladiolus bulb, inside we still have everything we need to grow back strong and tall. We just need someone who cares. That Someone is the Lord our God. When we cry out to the Lord in prayer, He hears our prayers and sees our tears and will heal our broken hearts. With our mended hearts planted in His love, we’ll survive any uprooting life may bring our way.

PRAYER: Father, thank you that you hear out prayers and see our tears. Thank you for healing our broken hearts.

“The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17 NIV).