BLOOM WHERE YOU'RE PLANTED

BLOOM WHERE YOU’RE PLANTED

And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him  May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love.  And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it.  Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.  Ephesians 3:17-19

If it has anything to do with nature, my daughter is ALL OVER the idea.  Animals, plants, rocks and minerals – none are safe from her passion.  The latest of the Shelly nature incidents became obvious to us last night.

I believe it was Aubrey’s fourth grade teacher who shared the notion that a dried piece of corn could be made into a very effective seed for a corn plant.  It started with a few innocent corn kernels in a little plastic cup.  Moistened paper towels were positioned to surround the previously soaked kernels. Lo and behold, on the windowsill of Penn View Christian School, a tiny green sprout appeared in my daughter’s cup.  Aubrey was hooked.  I’m sure her teacher had no idea that one of Aubrey’s countless dreams includes farming.  She tenderly carried home the amazing cupped sprout, along with a second cup.  The latter was a cup belonging to a boy in the class who was deemed unfit to ‘raise a corn plant.’  He was accused by Aubrey of drowning his poor corn kernels.  She, of course, had to rescue the kernels from further injury….

Timing is everything, and wouldn’t you know, the Blooming Glen Mennonite Church Harvest Celebration (complete with ample supplies of dried corn cobs) soon followed.  Before we knew it, there were hundreds of corn kernels soaking in various pots, cups, and bowls on our kitchen counters. 

After the appropriate amount of soaking, the kernels were drained and placed carefully among the moistened folds of paper towel in a clear plastic pitcher.  The clear plastic ‘field’ is positioned nicely in the sun.  Daily misting takes place by Farmer Aubrey.  The kernel ‘planting’ was a huge success.  There are at this moment approximately 100 tiny green corn plants protruding from the pitcher in the bay window of our family room.  Where they will go next is beyond me, as it is only 36 days until Christmas and we experienced a hefty frost last night.

I wasn’t present for the ‘draining of the corn,’ so I imagined it took place in one of my good colanders in the kitchen.  I was apparently incorrect.  I know now that it clearly happened in the powder room on our first floor. I know this, because last night I was using the bathroom before heading upstairs to get ready for bed.  I noticed a pale yellow stick poking from the drain of the bathroom sink.  Assuming there was something accidental caught in the drain, I pulled on it.  It snapped off like a bean sprout and I began to get the uneasy impression that it was alive.  My suspicions were confirmed when Jim and I dislodged the stop in the drain and pulled the little sun-deprived plant free from its home in the pipe below the sink.  My overactive imagination first leapt to the possibility of some strange toxic sprouting mold, but thankfully it was nothing as sinister as that.  Instead, we pulled an unbelievably swollen corn kernel, complete with a sickly-looking white stalk and an ample supply of roots.  There is not a drop of sunlight in the powder room.  It is a tiny, dark, landlocked cubicle without a window to speak of.  Had we TRIED to grow a plant in potting soil with sunlight and water (and without bathroom soaps!) we probably would have failed.

I almost want to say that now I believe I have seen EVERYTHING, but living in this house with this family will most likely prove otherwise.  Probably within the week.  Bloom where you’re planted.  Not a bad idea for any of us.