Rescue the Perishing

She was small, scabby, thirsty, and limp from neglect. She cowered in the back corner of a once loved patio at an estate sale and her future looked dim. When I picked her up, hubby gave me that raised eyebrow look that said, “Really?”. Surely, I rationalized, her green ceramic pot was worth two dollars even if she didn’t survive. She is a “Christmas Cactus” I tell him. “She is dead”, he says.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She came home with us and got  a new larger pot, fresh soil, powerful fertilizer, and a long drink of water. She spent the summer in intensive care under the pine tree away from the searing sun, where she grew and flourished until she was moved to the patio with the other plants. She was still on the patio in November enjoying eighty degree weather when I noticed her budding and getting ready to bloom. She was about to burst open and be who her creator made her to be.  I moved her inside, because one little West Texas sand storm would do her in.

My little rescue plant burst into blooms right on time, in early December. She was beautiful and amazing. You would have never guessed that she was perishing just a few months ago.

She still has the scars of her former neglect and abuse, but her new life has outgrown the scars. 

She reminds me of my girlfriends, who still carry some scars but are growing and blooming because they have been loved and encouraged. Someone has come along and scooped them up and saw hope in their hopelessness. They have been planted in good soil and brought into a protective, healing atmosphere. They have been fed and watered. And they have learned to look to the SON. 

If you are carrying scars, please, please know that you don’t have to stay scarred. Seek help (Psalm 121:2). Plant yourself in good soil (Luke 8:4-15). Change your atmosphere (Philippians 4:6-8). Feed yourself with the Word of God (1 Peter 2:2).  Take long drinks of Living Water (Revelation 2:6).  And stop looking at those things that caused your scars (Philippians 3:12-14). The scars may remain, but in time you will outgrow your scars and be who God created you to be (Jeremiah 29:11). 

And never be afraid to pick up the scarred and hopeless.

Rescue the perishing;
    don’t hesitate to step in and help.
If you say, “Hey, that’s none of my business,”
    will that get you off the hook?
Someone is watching you closely, you know—
    Someone not impressed with weak excuses.

Proverbs 24:11-12 (The Message)