You Need A Bigger Pot
The other day while I was out walking and praying, I started having a conversation with God as I sometimes do mid-prayer. It’s kind of rambling and the things that I need to do that day start filtering in and I thought about the plants I have growing outside. There are a few seedlings that I planted quite some time ago that have clearly taken but are stuck at the same height. I have a few other fruiting plants that look stuck but are in larger pots. The transplanting has been on my To Do list for a while and it seems to keep taking a back burner.
While thinking about that I was also thinking about work and what I should do concerning a specific issue. Some sitting geese hissed at me as I walked jolting me out of my thoughts and I turned to see that someone had two gigantic tomato plants and a variety of others in massive pots producing triple the amount of tomatoes I had.
That’s when I heard God say to me, “You need a bigger pot.” Now obviously my plants need a bigger pot, but this message was personal. Way more than my handful of raggedy tomato plants, I – me personally – needed a bigger pot. The pot I was in was stunting my growth.
Cramped
When I got home I took out my already purchased planter bags and took one of the plants from a larger pot that looked like it was ok, but maybe not doing its best, and began filling the bag with soil and nutrients and digging a hole for the plant to go into. I was kind of shocked when I saw that the entire pot was lined with roots just itching for a bigger space to spread. Here this plant looked ok on the outside – there were several blossoms and peppers on the branches and yet it was still struggling to grow. The little seedlings were far more cramped.
“That’s me,” I thought. Here I’ve been doing a bit here and there, but I have outgrown my pot and if I don’t want to stay where I am, I need to start the uncomfortable process of transplanting. But what was keeping me in my current pot? Was it fear – would there be a bigger pot somewhere for me? Or exhaustion – transplanting is work? Maybe it was an inherent dislike of the discomfort of change. Perhaps it was all three. Maybe it was the worry that while I felt God’s call to get a bigger pot – I didn’t yet see which pot he was going to replace my current pot with and I was afraid that I might not get what I needed to sustain myself.
The Great Gardener
One thing about gardeners though – if they put the effort into planting, watering, nourishing, and finding the perfect amount of sun or shade for a plant – they certainly have no desire to just yank it out of its spot and dash it on the ground.
Nope. If I can carefully, lovingly, and gently repot a tomato plant, God, the one who created all of us, will do the same for me. The move may be stressful, but with careful tending, it will allow me to grow and produce the kind of fruit for His kingdom that He is calling me to produce.
Do you need a bigger pot too?
Romans 12:2
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing, and perfect will.”
