Plants, Leaves & Roots
This post was originally shared in The Good Letter - Vol. 4
A few weeks ago I had been watering the two plants I currently have. Now, this is important to note, because every time I've owned a plant, here in Dubai, somehow they've died (including desert plants 🤦🏾♀️).
I purchased a new plant for my birthday and I've been praying that it won't die, I've been following the instructions and I've even downloaded an app to help me monitor the plant's health (LOL it's that serious). Thankfully this plant has been thriving.
But I have a small pot of soil, where once upon a time a mini cactus lived, grew and died in. For a moment I was hopeful that after cutting all the dead leaves off, leaving the roots and watering the soil just enough, then maybe, just maybe new leaves would sprout back up. It took a while for me to realise that the death also occurred at the root of the plant. Its death was final - no new leaves for me.
During this 'strange' time I know we've all been asking God questions, one of mine had been "What is 2020 after? What does it want to take?" The whole evening after watering my 2.5 plants I kept asking God the same question, I eventually heard "2020 wants your mind."
The events we've witnessed in the past seven months have been WILD, and the rate at which our minds are consuming and assessing these events is actually A LOT. Our minds are delicate and also powerful, what we think/know shapes who we are.
But it doesn't stop there, I kept thinking "but our hearts shape our minds? The heart is the root of our minds, right?" and that's when God reminded me of my dead plant.
You see, plants often show signs of something wrong in the browning of a leaf, I learnt that if a leaf turns brown it's time to cut it off because it'll affect the other leaves because the root will focus its attention to revive the dying leaf, diminishing nutrients to the healthy leaves.
God explained that my mind is like my plant leaves and my heart is the root. With everything going on I should be mindful of the things I allow into my minds and the way I respond to what's going on in the world; if I notice that my thoughts and reactions to the world's chaos are contrary to God's word I should be quick to cut it off because if left to 'brown' it can cause damage to my heart, my root.
2020 is after our minds because it'll affect our hearts; the enemy wants us to question God and to distrust Him, in response to everything going on around us - the question is, will we allow '2020 to win' or will choose to get closer to God and have Him, The Good Keeper, tend to our minds and water our roots?