I received a tiny Shamrock plant from my grandson just before winter. It had one stem. I know, not much, but it was a start. I guarded it carefully, until one day in haste I bumped the table it was on.
Over it went onto the floor. I stood staring. What a mess. I couldn’t bear to just let it die, so carefully I scooped up the little shoot, placed it back into its pot along with as much dirt as I could scrape off the floor. The stem was broken. The flower hung at a 90-degree angle. I placed it up near the window anyway, and to my amazement it lived.
The flower continues to open each morning and a new shoot has pushed up through the dirt.
In our world there are people who get dumped out into the dirt. They are broken. They may give up on themselves, but God never does.
Like my plant they do not look like God intended. There are scars and damage. Yet in the midst of the mess He tenderly calls. Their life matters. And healing can happen, when and if they recognize their value. How can that come about?
It’s a long journey but what will help is for us to love them as God does.
