Almost a year ago, my son phoned me to inform me in very solemn tones that ‘Runty is dead.’ Runty, familiar blog readers will be aware, is the smallest of the three chilli plants my son has been growing for quite some time now. The tallest was affectionately known as ‘Daddy Plant’ and the middle plant ‘Mummy Plant’ (although now, confusingly, Mummy is the tallest of the three and has produced a huge number of chillies!), with Runty always struggling to bring up the rear. On that May morning, Runty appeared to have given up the ghost, small stem sagging…
This being his first foray into chilli growing, my son had no clue what to do with collapsed plants and so he did nothing. Which, as it turned out, was just the right thing to do, because about a month later, Runty stood to attention again and began to grow. He is still much, much smaller than the other two plants, who are now pruned and producing their second batch of chillies, but this week we noticed…
… buds!
Runty is showing signs of life! The bud comes first, then the flowers, then the chilli. Our first chilli from Runty will be very special indeed. To all intents and purposes, we were sure he had died, but there are now unmistakeable signs of life. Jesus said, ‘Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.‘ (John 12:24) It is a sobering fact that resurrection only comes after death… but we rejoice in the fact that death is not the end of the story!