Around the time I started feeling confident in my ability to keep a houseplant alive, my dad visited my condo. That afternoon as he started to leave I stopped him, remembering that I wanted him to see the citronella plants I’d put on my patio in an experiment to fight off mosquitoes.
He walked toward my front door, and I explained to him that out of the two plants I had, one was dead. It was my fault—I’d been away from home the month after I bought it, and I hadn’t watered it. But the other one I felt great about. I looked my dad in the eye and actually said out loud, “That one is flourishing.”
He glanced at the pot, its bright leaves on top, and without even bending down for a look, told me to look more closely. He brushed his hand through the branches, and I saw what he did: leaves from a nearby bush had fallen over the soil, making it look like my plant was doing well. I wasn’t knowledgeable enough to have noticed the difference between my plant’s leaves and those of a nearby weed. When I pushed aside what had fallen on top, I saw one lone stick standing in the dirt.
Not a single leaf. No life. No flourishing.
That afternoon I made a mental list, my best advice for how to kill a houseplant:
- Forget it exists.
- Water it only when you feel like it.
- Don’t take the time to learn the nurturing process.
- Wait for a few weeks to pass, and then wonder why in the world it died.
- Mourn the loss.
- Throw it away.
Green thumb, black thumb, or somewhere in between—many of us are following these steps, and I’m not just talking about houseplants or gardening. If you want tokill your love for God’s Word, the same steps apply.
Step 1: Assume You’re Flourishing
Houseplants are humbling because they fall into one of two categories: either the roots are deepening within healthy soil or your plant is dying a slow and dramatic death. When it’s dying, you don’t always know how bad the situation is—leaves don’t immediately wither. By the time they do, it’s difficult to repair what’s been damaged.
Has it been awhile since you took stock of your current spiritual state? You may believe that you’re doing a good enough job getting into Scripture every now and then, but if you were to dig deep into the soil of your heart, would you find your passion has dried out? If you brushed away what’s on the surface, would you discover your love for the Word has withered?
It’s easier to assume you’re flourishing than to stop and allow God to reveal if there are places where you’re not. Stop anyway. It will take humility on your part, but how else can you fix an issue if you don’t see it’s there?
Lord, somewhere along the way, I’ve lost my love for Your Word. It’s hard for me to acknowledge that this has happened or consider how I’ve gotten to this point, but it’s not news to You. As the divine Gardener, there’s no one more equipped to resurrect what has withered and to grow new life. Will you do that in my heart?
Step 2: Disregard God’s Word
The fastest way to kill a houseplant is to forget it’s there, and the fastest way to kill your love for God’s Word is to disregard it. Has it been awhile since you’ve watered your heart with God’s Word? In the midst of your busy life, have weeks (or months) passed since you’ve spent time soaking up the truth of Scripture?
Grab your Bible, and read Psalm 1:2–3. Now read verse 2 again, but personalize it:
[My] delight is in the LORD’s instruction,
and [I meditate] on it day and night.
If you haven’t spent time in God’s Word in a while, it’s probably not because you’ve consciously chosen to ignore it. It is likely that you’ve lost your delight. Think back to the last time you were excited about Scripture: what were those circumstances? Why do you think it stirred your heart?
Don’t wait for your feelings to return. Fight for delight. Make a new Scripture watering plan to follow. Pick a time and place, and every time you sit down, commit to asking God to revive your wonder for His Word. (Reading and praying Psalm 119 back to the Lord is a great place to start!)
In the time that’s passed since the citronella debacle, I wish I could tell you that all plants have prospered under my care. About six months after I was forced to throw those away, another dropped all of its leaves. For weeks it stood as a lone stick in the dirt. It definitely wasn’t flourishing.
Until, one day, it was. One leaf became two, and the hint of a third is now popping out the top. The bare stem had been a warning that something was wrong—but it wasn’t the end of the plant.
If your love for God’s Word has withered lately, change up your watering plan. Remain rooted and grounded in Christ (Col. 2:7), and watch how He is able to grow fresh affection in your heart.
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