For those of you who have followed the saga of our chilli-growing experiences over the past fifteen months or so, you may be wondering how things are going after our summer batch of chillies.
The tops of the chilli plants (where all the growing activity has been located up till now) look forlorn and rather sad. For weeks we assumed this was the end of the chillies and wondered if they would need pruning back and would then grow again next year, or if that was the end of the story. Then, just before Christmas, we noticed new signs of life lower down the plants:
New shoots are appearing; on Mummy Plant there is even a new flower lower down, so life is clearly ongoing. One area may not be yielding fruit any more, but the plant is clearly still thriving and the cycle of life and growth is ongoing. Even Runty, our little feeble plant, is still growing!
For us, this is a parable of growth. Periods of apparent stagnation, where nothing visible is happening, are deceptive. New life bursts forth when we least expect it. We are reminded of Is 43:19: ‘See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.‘
Don’t despair if you can’t see growth in your own life or in those for whom you are earnestly praying. New shoots will appear in God’s timing as you nurture godly habits and continue in God’s teaching.