Abundance Grows in Tender Rhythms - Live Loved

“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us…” Ephesians 3:20

It’s a Friday Morning…

My eyes drifted to the plant sitting on the far side of the room. A year old now, it showed only faint traces of life – pink buds once attempted to bloom but now only shriveled, leaving traces of tiny buds in the potted soil. It should have bloomed vibrant color by this time of year, living up to its name: the Christmas cactus.

Somewhere in the busyness of the year, I stopped tending to the plant, leaving it to do the work on its own. The browned stems and parched soil left quiet reminders of my lack of attention – another small priority pushed to the side this time of year.

The unsettling feeling I continued to sit with wasn’t so much from the quiet dormancy of the cactus but the quiet truth behind it. I hadn’t tended to it the way I should have. I neglected the weekly rhythms it needed to thrive, and when its season to bloom finally came, there was nothing to show for it but a thirsty soil and withered leaves.

It’s a startling comparison of growing my relationship with God. The days I choose to be intentional are the days growth will be visible. Just like any relationship, closeness is built in rhythms: spending time together, sharing what’s going on with open conversation, allowing ourselves to be seen and known. We put effort into relationships we care about because that is the way those relationships grow.

Why would it be different with God?

In my relationship with God, there are mornings I faithfully sit with Him – watering the soil of my soul to know Him more deeply. There are days when prayer becomes more than a mealtime ritual – vulnerable in honesty of where I am and how I am doing. There are days when He is invited into my conversations, sharing His beauty with others – a display of His beauty as the Creator and Gardener of my heart through the refining beauty of His grace.

These daily moments of tending grow into seasons, and sometimes those seasons are ones of pruning. John 15:1-2 reminds us that God removes what no longer bears fruit, so that they may bear fruit in the days to come.

Pruning

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me,” (John 15:4).

Pruning is the intentional cutting back of even the healthiest, vibrant parts of a plant so that it can return more beautiful in the next season. It will often look empty and lifeless in the moment, but the purpose of pruning is a renewed beauty, not a grievance of loss.

In our lives, pruning can take the form of waiting that stretches longer than we hoped. It can look like the close of relationships we expected to last forever. It could look like the change of a career we thought would be our future.

In John 15:5, God states, “I am the vine, and you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

God’s pruning is His gentle tending to the places of our heart that need to reflect Him more. His correction becomes our direction. It is in His tender care that we live in the abundance of His love, experiencing His glory through the blooms of ordinary rhythms.

New Life

As I sat in defeating self-pity over my dormant cactus, someone placed a new one on my desk – its blossoms full and vibrant. It was a gift – a chance to tend to new rhythms for growth. Isn’t this just how God meets us? His mercy gives chances to start again – and they are new mercies every morning (Lamentations 3:22).

I find myself asking: Do I live in the abundance of Christ every day?

Do I lean into His abundance when I speak words that break instead of heal?
Do I live in His abundance when I believe my lies instead of His Truth?
Do I walk in His abundance when I’m captivated by distraction instead of focused on my purpose?

I want to be like Mary Magdalene, sitting and steady. But most days I am like Martha, busy and striving. I want to be like Esther, bold and courageous. But most days I am like Moses, crippled by my own insecurity.

The daily disciplines of abiding helps me tend to the fruits I know will display God’s glory. I pray those fruits are grown with grace to suffice when I can’t sustain, to produce when I can’t provide, and to grow when I feel stagnant.

May the abundance of God’s grace be evident through you. His love is abundant.

God delights in displaying Himself through you. Will you let Him?

“… to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen,” Ephesians 3:21.