Floral Meditation

"4 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart..." (Jeremiah 29)

This week and this month has been full of chaos and adjustment. Our bathroom is nearly finished in the parsonage, but we have had the trustee of the church in our home nearly every evening working to get it done. I officially started at the church on Sunday. From Sunday on, it seems that everything has been new. We have had new experiences and a new pace of life. We are learning new ways of speaking with people, and new we have both started new jobs. I am learning that the church has a more informal way of functioning than I had anticipated (no regular deacons meetings for example). I am trying to figure out how to copy bulletins and wondering how to purchase paper for the copier. We have spent over a week waiting for cable and internet (no internet in the office). I am very slowly learning what people expect of me. I have spent a lot of time making home visits to members, and that means getting to know and trying to read lots of new people. I knew things were going to change drastically in ministry, but living that adjustment has been a stretching, learning experience this week.

Today, after I was encouraged not to visit the person we have in the hospital quite yet, I took the day off. It was the first day off that I was not moving things that I have had in nearly a month. So, after waiting for the plumber and taking a few phone calls from church folks, I headed into La Junta for lunch. I stopped by Walmart, and made Jen a picnic in the park for us both. Then, I started to drive home.

On the way home, I made a decision. I stopped by Big R and Arkansas Valley Lumber Company and got some flowers. Then, I spent most of the afternoon planting roses and mums in pots and flower boxes on the front porch. I learned during some stressful moments last year that caring for plants and flowers helps me practice what a mentor called "Long, Wandering Prayer".

Today, while potting the plants, I thought of the passage above. As I pot the plants I plant in faith. I trust that God called me to this place. My actions say I intend to be here indefinitely, ministering in this community, planting and watering the seed of God's good news in this place.

I think about how the investment in the church and in the flowers are both risky acts of hope. Hope that my work, time, and personal investment will indeed help to grow new life here in this place. And, the act of getting dirt under my fingernails and my hands dirty gives me a strange sense of peace. I have the peace for the moment that I too am being planted in this place, on this land, for this time. And that as I get my hands dirty over the coming years, I can trust that God's plans are indeed to prosper me and not to harm me.