31 Days to Fruitful Living — Day 31

In late August, my sweet co-worker bought me this lovely plant for my birthday.  She said I needed something green and living in my office.  I smiled at her and told her I had a black thumb, so I should probably take it home and place it in my husband’s watchful care.

Pat is apparently an optimist, so she made me promise to water it once a week and not take it home.  This would be an office plant.

Knowing my track history with all things living, I quickly snapped a picture of the pretty plant with my iPhone so that I could remember it after its demise.

Folks, I promise you I did as I was told.  I watered that little plant and prayed over it.

“Live, pretty plant.  Please live,” I fervently prayed.

A few weeks later, Pat breezed into my office on a Monday morning to chat about some pending business.  She glanced sideways at the plant, and then she shrugged her shoulders and resigned herself to the inevitable.

“Take it home to your husband,” she agreed.

The little plant that could was holding on, but it was less green and less vibrant.  It was not thriving under my care.

I packed the living thing into my car later that day and handed it over to my favorite gardener.   “Pat ordered me to bring it home.  Do you think you can save it?”

My husband cradled the plant and examined it closely.

“It needs sun,” he diagnosed.

He placed it gently by the window where the rays of light could penetrate.

Right then, the Holy Spirit spoke to me very clearly — tell them about this moment on Day 31.  End here.

Tell them they need the Light of the Son.

Without Him, nothing thrives.

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But what happens when we live God’s way?

He brings gifts into our lives,

much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—

things like affection for others,

exuberance about life, serenity.

We develop a willingness to stick with things,

a sense of compassion in the heart,

and a conviction that a basic holiness

permeates things and people.

We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments,

not needing to force our way in life,

able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.”

Galatians 5:22-23, MSG

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Q4U:  What steps do you take daily to spend time with the Son?

Day 31 is a wrap!

(Insert victory cheer here)

Thanks for joining me on this crazy adventure!  Here is a complete list with links to all 31 posts in this series.  I may have a black thumb, but I am determined to learn how to cultivate my spiritual life.
fruitful living big

 

39 Comments

  1. Such a simple yet vital truth to end your month with. Your faithfulness in writing each day has been inspiring, Lyli, may God richly bless you for it!

  2. Enjoyed this post and am looking forward to reading some of the past ones. One of the ways I spend time with Christ is to simply talk to Him throughout my day. I try to find ways to incorporate prayer in what I am already doing. When I fold my laundry, I separate it by who it belongs to and pray for that person as I fold their clothes. When my girls were little and I would pack their lunch I would pray for them as I did it. Be blessed today and bless someone else!

      1. Preben Riis Sørensen(Der er ogsÃ¥ e n ani, men det ligger jo udenfor pludrs omrÃ¥de)Manglede i dag:sørøg, ODSsøkok, ODSsneuld, ODSODS har 433 ord med *isme, der bliver lidt at se til….Fritz: Tjah, og sÃ¥ er der endda rigtigt mange ismer, som ogsÃ¥ kan antage bøjningsformen/endelsen: “mus”. For eksempel kan buddhisme ogsÃ¥ skrives: &#ds10;Bu8dhaismu2„. At det forholder sig sÃ¥dan er noget, som Fritz pÃ¥ ingen mÃ¥de sÃ¥ komme.

  3. We desperately need the light of the Son to help us grow as Christians. I spend time on my morning walk with my Savior. Great post and blog. I enjoy your photography! (VIsiting from Faith Filled Friday linkup.)

    1. Laura, thanks so much for stopping by and encouraging my bumbling photography skills! Most of the pictures on my blog are actually stock photos, but the picture on this post I actually captured on my iPhone.

      Blessings to you! 🙂

  4. Sometimes these things we think are just little happenings in our day are very meaningful and can do more to strengthen us than anyone could imagine.

  5. Lyli – I have so enjoyed your series. This was a powerful ending! “Without Him, nothing thrives.” So grateful that He is in my life! I was your neighbor at The Weekend Brew this morning.

    1. I disagree. Nobody should be allowed to assume another pe9r#ns&o3s; identity especially if they aim to defraud him. This is his human right and there are two and a half million owners of this right in the real Macedonia. Skops you will get nothing. Not the land, not the history, not the name. Nothing is all you own and all you deserve.

  6. I love this story. It made me smile to think of your friend shrugging and your husband cradling. And how you drove it home that nothing thrives without the Light.

    And that passage in Galatians… I know I’ve read it, but it really spoke to me today. Thanks, friend!

  7. *smile* – Your husband sounds nice. And the point you make is important. We need truth and justice. Without it, we get insane.

    I love the symbolism of the ceiling. On the ceiling both lights and skies are put, and by acknowledging that we will differ between giving light and giving rain. Both are necessary. Hawk and dove.

  8. Dear Lyli
    This is now from another black thumb. We also need to to take our hearts to the Gardener of our hearts and allow Him to trim and prune and whatever else is necessary and of course, lots of the light of His Son. Only He can produce the fruit He desired so much to be bountiful in our lives.
    Blessings XX
    Mia

  9. Such a great parable, Lyli. We do all need time in the Son, and without him, we wither. I love each and everyone of my house plants so it hurts me to hear of plants dying. ha. Glad you were able to take yours home for some R&R. 🙂

    1. Curiosa coi³anicmÃbn del pescado, las espinacas y ese toque de leche de coco… sabrá delicioso estoy segura. Te quedó de un apetitosos total, ya le estas haciendo la competencia a tu marido :-)Petons

    2. hello Mikko,With new version of Imagick- 6.5.5-x there is some problem with dunamic extensions. Every time then I tried to start the Apache on Windows there as an error:PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library ‘C:\\path\\to\\php\\ext\\php_imagick.dll’ – This application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem.Do you have any idea?Thanks

    3. Friend I am proud of you, its amazing to see how you’ve remained consistent throughout the years I’ve known you. I know that you will bring a great contribution to the health system of our country. Education indeed provides a platform for us to serve society at a higher level. So as you continue this journey you’ve started I am excited to see you bring excellence to the public health system of South Africa

    4. Talking to an impartial person about emotional issues really helps. If they're good at their jobs they don't judge, yet help you reach some sort of resolution. The problem with only using friends as sounding boards is that they might want to make you feel better, without helping you to really see the situation.

    5. I'm still waiting for this feature to roll out in Japan, but one thing I'm noticing… no ability to trim videos? The first thing I would want this for is to trim off artefacts and unnecessary bits at the start and end of videos. You can already do this with youtube/edit – it doesn't look like the feature is being added to the live edit feature here… Please consider adding that. I'm nonetheless looking forward to playing around with this when it rolls out here.

    6. Hi Tracy, I love your blog and podcast. Thank you for being there and for all of the great recipes, ideas links, photos and fun talk with Joy. It is appreciated! Anyway, my favorite childhood recipe is Baked Pineapple. This was served for major holidays and family gatherings. My Grandmother always made it. My Mom still makes it. A pineapplish version of cranberry sauce…sort of. Yum.

  10. Such a simple truth, Lyli, yet so powerful! Light! Looking forward to the day when He will become the only Light we need in that glorious new creation! Thank you so much for linking up with me! I have loved this series so much!

  11. I laughed so hard picturing you whispering sweet words to your plant- great writing:) I have a black thumb too, so I could relate:) Thanks for sharing this with Faith Filled Friday!

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