A friend of mine is an avid gardener and she has a “green thumb.” She plants poison ivy in the flower boxes around her home. Her skin is covered with itchy blisters from constant exposure to the plants. This seemed a bit insane to me so I asked her why she grows plants that make her life miserable.
She said, “I didn’t intend to grow poison ivy. I was hoping the seeds would produce geraniums or roses.”
“You didn’t know you were planting poison ivy seeds?” I asked.
“I knew the seeds were poison ivy,” she responded. “I was hoping the plants would be something else.”
She kept right on sowing those seeds into her life. She went to school and learned that her life is hard because other people suck. She moved in with a guy who promised to help her dismantle the patriarchy. Together, they got addicted to meth. He took off with another gardener leaving her alone to raise the kids. She was told her kids had “special needs” which required hundreds of hours of therapy and thousands of dollars worth of medication. She quit going to church because Christians made her feel “judged.” The kids went into foster care which freed her up to cruise the bars looking for a man who would “treat her the way she deserves to be treated.” She took a swing at the cop who arrested her for DUI. She accused the judge of hating women when he sentenced her. She spent a month in jail during which time she contracted hepatitis from the skull and crossbones she had tattooed on her neck. She never keeps a job for more than 6 months.
I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to upset her. Besides, I’m not an expert. I can’t say for sure that a rose WON’T grow on poison ivy vines. God can do miracles, right?
I’ll put her name on the prayer list.
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
– Galatians 6:7
