PLANTING AND PULLING UP
Have you ever planted caladium bulbs? Caladiums are a horticultural staple in Houston, Texas, during the spring and
summer months. Yard after yard in our city is accented by caladiums -white, pink and green- each time I see them I
think, someone waited. Caladium bulbs are gnarled and ugly, and after you plant them, you wait.
First, small, blade-like shoot appear, and then the shoots unfold into leaves. They flatten out and "show their
colors," and you are on your way to Yard-of-the-Month. (Maybe.)
When caladium season is
over, you can dig up your bulbs, store them in a cool, dark place, and replant then again next year. But if you miss a few
bulbs, come spring you'll see caladiums inching through your ground cover in your flower beds, and the asymmetrical effect may
not be what you had hoped for.
Solomon observed that there is "a time to plant, and a time to uproot
what is planted." There is a time to plant, and a time to harvest. They cannot be switched. A pattern
exists, and it must be followed to achieve the desired results. What is planted must remain planted, too. The
process cannot be hurried along. "Leave the bulbs alone," wrote C.S. Lewis, "and the new flowers will come up.
Grub them up and hope, by fondling and sniffing, to get last year's blooms, and you will get nothing." There
is a time to plant, and a time to uproot.
Memory Verse ECCLESIASTES 3:1-2
There is an appointed time for everything...a time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted.
Sunday, November 30