Admiring the air plants

We've all met them, people who seem to thrive by osmosis. They're the best kind of extroverts, radiating and gathering energy without becoming parasites.

In the natural world, they resemble tillandsias. These "air plants" or epiphytes absorb nutrients through their surroundings - through the sun, water, and dust that settles on them.

Tillandsias are all the rage in nurseries and floral shops in winter. I hung three globes with various plants in my office window, where they rewarded me with blooms and constant green for the mere effort of a daily squirt of water. (When researching and writing, you don't have much energy beyond a press of a trigger and the aim of a water nozzle.)

Going to the network conference, I saw many pastors and church workers thriving on visits with their peers. Surrounded by friends and those trying to get close to them, they laughed, chatted, and connected. Others hung around the fringes of the foyer and sat alone in corners of the hall, hoping to be noticed ... or happy to be alone.

By God's design, when we follow him, we shall bloom where we are planted. Some of us need deep roots to hold us steady in strong gales of life. We may be introverts who bloom only once a decade.

Others flower often. Whenever they're around people, they respond with love to those around them. They reward any friendship or contact.

Both temperaments are useful in the Church to showcase the generosity and faithfulness of a Good God.

Read more:

*Your laws are perfect and completely trustworthy. Your promises have been thoroughly tested; that is why I love them so much. As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands." Psalm 119:138, 140, 143

*Say to those who are of a fearful heart, "Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God." Isaiah 35:4

*These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again, "I know your afflictions and your poverty - yet you are rich!" Revelation 2:8-9 (NIV)

Moravian Prayer: Shepherd Jesus who knows our afflictions and our poverty, we praise you for the richness beyond compare that your life, death and resurrection gives us: a hope and a promise far greater than anything our small minds can imagine. Amen.