Blooms in the Darkness

I used to house sit for a couple in Houston when we lived there. I was responsible for taking care of their plants and their cats while they traveled around the world on business and pleasure. It was always a blessing and a privilege to stay there.

One of the things that I most enjoyed about staying at their house was their gorgeous back yard. There was a large patio that had many potted plants and many areas of colorful plantings throughout the yard. Being a former nurseryman/horticulturalist and landscaper, I was right at home among all of the blooming plants and trees. There was seldom a day that went by that something was not in bloom in this yard.

During one of my first stints of house sitting there, I noticed a plant that I didn't recognize. I asked my friends about it when they returned and they told me it was a Night Blooming Cyrus plant. They told me all about how beautiful it was and how it only bloomed at night during the month of June.

It just so happened that I was going to be there watching their house the following June, and I made it a special point to watch out for this plant to bloom. Here is a picture of what I witnessed:

Each bloom on this plant only lasts for less than 24 hours. Beginning at dusk the blooms begin to open until they are fully open somewhere around 1 or 2 a.m. in the morning. By the time the sun rises in the morning, the blooms are already beginning to fold up and wither. It is an amazing sight.

This plant may have several evenings of bloom each June, ranging from 1 bloom in an evening to a dozen or more blooms.

One of the gifts we received from this family were some cuttings of this plant. We have kept them in a pot and continued to nurture them. We absolutely love this plant. We love it so much, that we found friends that had another variety of it and we got clippings from it as well.

As a pastor I hear a lot about the peoples' lives that I am involved with. Lately I have heard about financial difficulties, loneliness, health problems, loss of loved ones, etc. I know from my own life, just how 'dark' some periods of our lives can be.

During those times of darkness, I am often led to remember this little plant. How it blooms at one of the hottest times of the year and is most fully brilliant at night's darkest point. It reminds me that there is nothing beyonds God's capability. Never will the heat of my situation or the darkness I find myself in be more than God can get through. The light and life of God can overcome all things. Grace can bloom in any situation.

Romans 8:38-39 reminds us:
"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Though we may not always be able to avoid the darkness around us, we can cling to the hope that we have in God, a hope that blooms even in the darkness.