Growing Sage

Well, I'm officially renewing my commitment to blog three times a week. So of course this first week, I'm way late with the third blog, but I'm doing it anyway.

I have what you might call a brown thumb.  I excel at taking vibrant, living plants and ushering them through the pearly gates in short order.  But a few months ago when Whole Foods had herb plants on sale for a dollar a piece, I couldn't pass up trying one more time to cultivate green things.

I bought sage, basil, two kinds of oregano, and marjoram.  I'm not sure what I'll ever use the marjoram for, but it was pretty. And as for the others, I figured if I did straight up kill them I would have gotten my money's worth if I dried at least the leaves that were on the plants at the time of purchase.

I'm happy to say the herbs are still alive and in fact flourishing...well some of them are.  It turns out they don't need much water, so when I forget for a few days its okay, and they like a lot of sun.  And, when you clip them to use some herbs, they actually grow back better.  Which is probably why the marjoram looks pretty much the same now as it did two months ago.

Without writing an essay, let me say that a parallel did not escape me.  Life can be rough. No matter who you are, or your situation, you'll face hard times. Some people get cut more than others, more than seems fair or even tolerable. But when you see those people who have ask the Creator of all to come into their broken places, you can tell. Because they don't just heal, they flourish. And their lives have that much more flavor and depth to enrich the world around them.

Thank you, Lord, that you are the Redeemer, and you will never let evil or pain have the last word in the lives of your children. Thank you for herbs and for how sturdy they are and how wonderful they smell in a saute pan. Thank you for flavors in life, both in taste, in experience, in sound, in color, in people.  You are a God of accents and variety and richness and I love that about you.  All my love.