The Lent Plant

I couldn’t decide what to give up for Lent.

So…

I have a plant in my office that one of my co-workers gave me last year when my grandmother died. I know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about plants, and to be perfectly honest, it really should be illegal for any plant retailer to sell me anything that requires attention exceeding a rainy day in the 5-day forecast.

The sad truth is that I’m kind of bad news for any living thing. I forget to water plants; I have killed goldfish before I ever even got back to my car in the parking lot of the pet store; I let a teeny tiny kitten out of the house and he never came back. In all honesty, the only living thing that I’ve ever been entrusted with that is still thriving is the two-year old…and that’s probably only because he literally takes me by the hand and drags me to the fridge when he’s hungry…and will not quit unless I feed him.

I really don’t know what my co-worker was thinking when she gave me this doomed plant. She obviously didn’t know me well enough at the time to realize that she was sentencing the poor thing to a long, slow death. How I have been treating this plant may even be considered torture in some states. I let the leaves get JUST close enough to wilting before I remember to water it. Then I water it JUST enough to tease the leaves into clinging to life a little longer in the hopes that “this time the crazy plant lady will do better.” But nope. It’s a vicious cycle. I don’t do it on purpose…but I do it…and that’s bad enough.

So I’m making a commitment for Lent. I’m giving up

KILLING THE PLANT.

For the next 40 days I will water

“Lenny, the Lent Plant”

each morning that I am at work. Who knows…I MAY even take this spiritual experience to an extreme and re-pot the poor thing. This morning I jumped on the Lent Band Wagon by moving Lenny closer to the window so he can get a good view of the sunshine. He’s already perking up and looking like a better version of himself.

And every morning, as I water Lenny and check his leaves for signs of wilt, I will remember that Jesus made an incredible sacrifice so that I would not wilt. So I would not be thirsty. So there would be no death and I might have eternal life. Every morning, I will remember...

...Lenny isn’t the only one who benefits by being a little closer to the Light.