Change of Plans and Grammie Rant

Today’s goal was to prepare the back room for next week’s sewing projects. Instead, I got to make a wonderful mess!

From my recent Celebrate Life post, you know I hid my pro-life project under the guest bed  in order to give the corms time to develop roots and new baby bulbs. This morning, I was shocked to see scrawny green leaves reaching out from under their plastic wrap prison to get to some sunshine.

I immediately changed plans. Ronald went for bags of soil and mushroom compost which I mixed with rooting compound. I gathered all the used cups I had saved for dirty pours and found every large empty tray I could find to put them in.

I dug carefully into the box of seedlings and was thrilled to find many of the little corms I had placed in the soil a few weeks ago had either sprouted roots or made tiny, white, bulb babies. I separated the babies into individual cups and gave each a hearty helping of the soil mixture.

Soon I was out of cups so like the widow that Elisha helped, I tried to find more receptacles for my babies. Saved egg cartons saved the day! I put the tinier plants in those trays and heaped the cartons with soil. Ronald set up card tables in the garage for my project and bless his heart, he cleaned up the mess I had made in the kitchen and dining room! I have a true partner in crime!

I sprayed water over the containers and covered them with hoarded clear plastic salvaged from various Amazon orders. Now I wait.

I pray all the transplants survive. I would love to give every family at my upcoming party a healthy start to an Easter lily plant that could thrive for years. But there is some bad news involved.

I rewatched several videos and was reminded that from the corm stage to a significant bulb may be several years! Most people won’t have that much patience or have that much of a green thumb. I will plant whatever is left in my own flowerbed and let God’s nature take its course.

I got to thinking how we often want to hurry a process in which we may not see positive results for years.

I wonder how many of my projects I tried would have thrived if I had been more patient? What if I had not become discouraged and just given up?

Childrearing is a much more important example of helping things to grow and come to fruition.

We are blessed with these little ones for a short time. We nurture them at each step, adding opportunities and the best conditions for growth that we can supply.  We cannot regulate our children’s every movement and choice, but –

here comes a Grammie Rant!

Nurturing does NOT include sitting them in front of a TV or computer screen or handing them a phone to play with! An occasional time on those things is okay. Allowing or even encouraging them to become obsessed or addicted to them is NOT proper parenting!

And for goodness sake! Parents – set a good example! Is it really as important to check in with celebrity gossip as it is to actually interact with your children? I don’t think so!

Long term, raising our children by spending quality time and filling their lives with Godly principles, insights, and Truth is what matters. But we cannot micromanage God to tell Him what our kids will become. At a certain stage, we sit back and let God guide them in ways we cannot. Our main job then is to pray and support them with love and wisdom.

You may not have plants that reach for the sun. But if you have children, provide the proper environment so they will reach for the Son!

2 Peter 3:18 encourages us to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. May it be so for us all!

Blessings

KB