Get A Bigger Pot

About a year ago, I bought my wife a flower pot, not just any flower pot, a big flower pot. A house plant was given to us by my Mother-In-Law and we knew that the original plant grew to be a pretty big size. But after a short time in our home, we realized it wasn’t showing much sign of growth. It initially grew in the little pot we had picked up from a neighborhood garage sale, but after a month or so it stalled out and began to decline. So, naturally, we thought we should get a bigger pot. 

I was reading this morning in a book suggested to me by a friend. It’s called Chance or the Dance by Thomas Howard, a book that came highly recommended by another great author and thinker, Eric Metaxas. As I’m taking notes and studying for my next book, something jumped out at me today, here’s the quote. 

“The old myth said, “I have a father, and this is to be expected since there is, in fact, a Father who has set things up so that I will have some way of grasping this notion of fatherless which is in the stuff of things. This [my father] indeed means this [the Father]”

Thomas Howard, Chance or the Dance?

In other words, although none may be necessary, God has made things the way they are so that we can get a picture of the way things really are. God will use the things around us to show us a deeper look into the realities around us that go unseen. Still with me?

Back to the flower pot.

To celebrate our anniversary, I took my wife to her favorite (also my favorite) nursery in town and let her pick out the biggest and most beautiful pot she could find. She found it quite easily, but what was not as easy was getting it into our truck, then out of the truck and into our house. After working together, we stood back looking at this little plant in such a big pot, waiting for it to grow. 

Our home has a wonderful corner window that gets flooded with light and Walter, the name our family gave to this plant, began to thrive. Something as simple as the size of the pot changed everything about the growth and strength of this plant.

Something as simple as the size of the pot changed everything about the growth and strength of this plant.

Then it hit me.

I heard that voice again, the Father, showing me the unseen in the seen. 

For many of us, whether we want to admit it or not, have grown frustrated, with all of it. Tired of life. Annoyed with the lack of progress and starving for something real. What’s most frustrating about this normal stage (which repeats itself) of life is that there really isn’t anything you can do about it. You’ve tried that. 

You’ve worked harder.
You’ve received a better education.
You’ve tried sex.
You’ve tried everything you can think of.

And yet, the question remains, the uncertainty, the missing puzzle piece. 

I don’t remember the moment, but a seed that had been planted secretly in my mind, by my Father, began to grow. The seed was the idea that growth comes from the amount of space I’ve made for God to work in my life.

There are some things, by God’s grace, that I am able to do. But in a stark and beautiful contrast, there are some things, by God’s grace, that only God can do, and God Himself is the Master behind growth.

It’s the invisible hands of God that stretch the neck of every flower, that extend the breadth of every whale and pull the flesh of every human to their fullness. 

The only way I know how to get out of a frustrating season is to get into a place where I give God more space to help me grow. Much like Walter, my plant, there have been times where there was no room in my life for God to work. There was no space left in the pot for deeper roots, wider reach, and further growth. When there isn’t any room for the Grower, there is nothing waiting for us except frustration.

It’s time to get a bigger pot.

Space can be found in the morning. Before the sun rises, or maybe in your car on your way to work. Space can be found when you choose to turn off your device.

It’s in the eyes of your spouse.
It’s in the laughter of your children.
It’s in the wind on your face.

Growth is where the Grower is, and He is wherever we seek Him.

The question becomes, are we making space for the Grower to work?

For whatever reason, when you get older, you start to get a green thumb. Have you noticed this? Why are all my friends into house plants? Why are my wife and I having extended, and interesting, conversations about plants and their behaviors? Something weird has happened to us. If anyone can explain this phenomenon to me I would love to sit and discuss it with you. 

Do you think it’s something in the original design of humanity, to love and take interest in things like plants and life itself? Maybe.

There is a reason the world works the way it does. It’s because God made it to work in such a way for you to see Him. Through all the pain and confusion, God is there, speaking.

It’s time to get a bigger pot.

Make space for growth.
Make room for the Grower.

Because my family is moving to France to work with people from around the world, we’ve given Walter to our best friends. They have an even better area for Walter to grow with more sunlight than ever before. Last night, they sent us a picture of a flower blooming.

We didn’t even know it made flowers. 

Can you imagine the beautiful things God can do with us when we put ourselves into a place where growth happens? 

Growth happens in the presence of the Grower. Because this is true we must make space in our lives to experience Him. 

When we do flowers will bloom.

And much like the ancient text says in Psalm 1, you will grow in and out of season.

Let it be so.

Come Grower, come.