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Metaphor in a Tree

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I was going back through some old blog posts and came across this one:

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As we close out 2007, I’d like to leave you with a metaphor that startled me the other day. True story. 

A few years ago I went through an “orchid” phase.  I bought about a dozen orchids and planted them on the front porch, the back porch, etc.  I bought special orchid pots, special orchid growth mediums, and special orchid fertilizers.  I found that I did pretty well with the common phalaenopsis orchids, but I had pinned my hopes on one cattleya orchid.  Cattleya orchids are the big, frilly flowers women used to wear in corsages at Easter. 

Anyway, years passed and my phalaenopsis orchids either thrived or died.  I lost interest in orchids and moved on, happy to let my orchids fend for themselves.  My cattleya, however, just sat in its pot–didn’t die, didn’t grow, didn’t bloom.  Just sat there.  

So about a month ago I moved it to the front step.  It’s more exposed there, a location where it would have to thrive or die.  

One day last week, I ran out to get the mail . . . and stopped in my tracks.  The cattleya had bloomed–one pretty yellow flower.  Once it had fully opened, I brought it inside where I could see it more often. 

Then I realized that in some ways, an orchid is like a dream. You think it’s never going to happen, you wonder if you should even continue to pray, and then, just when you least expect it, voila!  And sometimes that dream may appear a little ragged, and not exactly what you expected . . . 

But still . . . it’s there. And it’s alive.

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Fast forward to 2024–

In 2008, that orchid gave me a half dozen blooms. And the year after that, it gave me about a dozen. It sat by the front door and grew so big that I had to break it up and repot it. When we moved, I took it with me, and left some in a pot on the back porch, and stuck some in a tree.

We’ve been in this house six years, and I’d forgotten about putting that orchid in the oak tree. . . but the other day I was walking through my jungle garden and spotted a flash of color–and that’s rare in December. But there it was–

A week or two later, I walked to the other side of the oak and saw this:

Not only is the orchid blooming, but I have some baby staghorn ferns and resurrection ferns as well!

I don’t know what you’ve spent years praying for, but keep on praying. Because God will either answer your prayer or change your desire. And He is always faithful.

~~Angie 

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Angela Hunt

Christy-Award winner Angela Hunt writes for readers who expect the unexpected in novels. With over five million copies of her books sold worldwide, she is the best-selling author of more than 165 works ranging from picture books (The Tale of Three Trees) to non-fiction books, to novels.

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Comments

  1. That is amazing! And a lovely metaphor. I love orchids and in our Wichita house, I had great luck getting the grocery store variety to rebloom. Since then, I’ve bought or been gifted a few and enjoyed them while they’re in bloom, but I’ve never gotten one to re-bloom here in Missouri. I’ve never tried a cattleya though. Yours is beautiful!

    • Thanks, Deb! It’s definitely my favorite, though I also have a red one in a tree that is amazing. Wish they bloomed more than once a year!

  2. What an absolutely beautiful lesson! Thank you for this gem today!
    I confess I also love the flowers! The orchids are perfect!

    • I just look for a crevice and stick it in there. If the crevice isn’t deep enough, I will sometimes hold the orchid in place with a wire. As it grows, the orchid’s roots will attach to the bark. Orchids are epiphytes (I think that’s how you spell it), meaning they don’t really grow in soil, but take their moisture from the air. They naturally grow in trees (but I planted this one!)

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