A lesson from a banana tree

About five years ago, a lovely couple that we visited gifted us with a banana tree. In fact, they dug it up from their lush backyard and plopped it into a small pot for us to take home and plant.
I didn't.
Plant it, that is.
I did take it home.
Over the years, it grew and got taller. The diameter of the tree increased. It seemed to like it here. It required larger and larger pots, so we dutifully placed it in new pots about every year.
Still, it didn't get planted.
It was a beautiful addition to our patio - kind of a tropical feel, ya know?
Each winter when the threat of frost arrived, we pulled that big pot (and the tree which was by now about four or five feet tall) into the garage.
Esconced in front of the windows, it kept watch over our tractors until spring.
But it still didn't get planted . . .
In the spring, we would still pull it out to the patio and promptly forget it.
Well, I take that back.
We would have discussions about where to plant it. Factors such as sunlight, quality of soil, water runoff, and more were considered.
Until this year.
This year was momentous. (For the banana tree, anyway.) We placed the pot containing the tree into the bucket of the front-end loader and drove out to a nice spot. We amended the soil and planted the tree and watered it well.
Then we watched for the next few days, to see how the tree responded.
It didn't look good.
In fact, I could swear it was dying. Dying all the way dead. For real.
The leaves were a bright yellow in no time, and then turned brown and wrinkled.
I mean shriveled.
We quit looking at it. It was just too hurtful.
We had killed it.

A few weeks later, we glanced over there and noticed that there was a tightly furled, brilliantly green leaf emerging from the middle of the dried remains of the previous leaves! That leaf grew larger and larger, and then arched over gracefully.
When the stem arched over it made room for another gorgeous leaf!
To make a long story short, the banana tree is now thriving in its new home. It had a difficult time at first, but it made it.

Isn't that a lot like our Christian lives?
For us, as believers, it's not that someone else refuses to plant us; it's that we refuse to get out of our pot. Our comfort zone. We're scared to death to try something new. Even if we think the Lord may be telling us, nudging us, supporting us.
It may be a new business venture.
It may be a commitment to giving financially to His kingdom's work.
It may be a commitment to giving of our time and compassion to help others.
No matter what it is, we don't want to leave our comfort zone.

Or maybe, we are believers who did take the plunge. We stepped out from our comfort zone and WHAM!!! The difficulties and the obstacles were amazingly large. We were stopped dead in our tracks. We began to wonder if we really did the right thing. We began to wonder if God really wanted us to do this thing.

Three words for us to remember:

Give

It

Time

God will not send us on a "mission" or an effort without providing the strength to do the task.

On the day I called, You answered me;You made me bold with strength in my soul. (Psalm 138:3)

He will not leave us alone; instead He will be with us each step of the way.

because God has said,“Never will I leave you;    never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5b)

He will bless us with what is needed, just as He sends the sunshine, rain, and nutrients to our little banana tree.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord,And in His law he meditates day and night.3 He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,Which yields its fruit in its seasonAnd its leaf does not wither;And in whatever he does, he prospers. (Psalm 1:2-3)

Lord, let me learn from my banana tree; let me rely on you for strength and for your blessings. Let me never forget that you will not forsake me!