2021: A Time to be Generated

Back in the fall I wanted to make my workspace beautiful, so I bought a pair of succulents.  I chose these plants specifically because I read that they do not require much care (watering once a month), and this suits my busy life: I don’t have much to give but I still want beauty.  To my dismay one of them started dying, and I thought maybe plant ownership just isn’t for me.  I began watering more frequently to keep the soil damp, as my plants lost their color and the leaves closest to the soil began breaking off.  Strangely the stem continued to reach higher, even as the base was dying. My husband said this was because it was searching for the sun and, not finding it in the lower part of the stem, it reached aimlessly upwards in search of what it was lacking. I can’t do much, but I can move my plants to the windowsill when I get up in the morning, and this has made a world of difference.  The lower leaves are stronger, color has returned, and the plant is being generated. It has found what it was searching for.

This to me provides an interested analogy for the Christian walk.  As a homeschooling mother of eight, I know what it means to be busy.  I have spent years of my life working just to stay afloat, daily life consumed me, and I found that all I was really doing was just “busy work”.  I was consumed with tasks that seemed never-ending, but in the end gave little life – like that green stem reaching aimlessly, knowing that it was missing something as beneath it things continued to die.

No matter how busy we are, we need to be generated.  And just like the plant, often the solution is deceptively simple.  A small change to our daily routine, that puts us in the sun’s rays and not hidden away in darkness.   Only in our case it is not the sun, but the Son that will bring life to our days.  He will break into the endless cycle of tasks that repeat and fill them will meaning and joy.  He will provide the backdrop for which we can engage in our lives with new meaning and deeper purpose – but even more than this.  He will cause such joy to well up in us that we will be compelled to make time to share Him and what he’s done with the rest of the world.  He will not make us less busy, but he will generate something new in us, so that our busyness does not define us – our love for him does.

If you are feeling tired going into 2021, you’re not alone.  Most of us feel that way.  It’s been a difficult year.  But try for a minute to invite someone into your life who has just met Jesus for the first time, and watch how that transforms you.  We need to evangelize like we need to breathe, like a plant needs the sun.  We need it, because it generates something new in us, to share Jesus with someone and watch them come alive.  It reminds us of why we first fell in love with him, and awakens our hearts.  I have never been more busy in my life, but I have also never been more happy, because my busyness is directed by the Lord.  When we find our source in him he won’t keep us to ourselves, he’ll send us out. We may think it is for others, and that is true.  But is also for us.  We need to share the Gospel, we need to be connected to the love of Christ that generates something new inside of us, and gives us the strength we need to encounter him in any circumstance.  We need friendship, we need community, and we need Jesus. 

As we step into 2021, my prayer for each one of us is that we connect ourselves anew to the love of Jesus, allow him to generate us, and watch where the Lord brings us in this new year.