I wrote about our Aloe Plant HERE back in April of 2011.
But, the story continues...
That sweet plant eventually just could not make it anymore.
A while after I posted that story, the poor thing just had no energy to go on.
I don't want to read too much into it, but the plant did last until Lucas came
Then it seemed as if we had to close another piece of the Jacob chapter.
But, the one thing that remained was God's Faithfulness and Provision.
Before it died completely, it grew enough to shoot off a few more babies. I now have them and they are flourishing. Almost as if to help us see a new chapter in life.
This spring I walked the journey of cancer with my mom alongside my siblings and their spouses. It was a rapid process in many ways. She was 82 years old but really very healthy until February when she was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. She did not want treatment and passed away on May 6. I watched her die with dignity. It really was an amazing process and very natural. She lived life in "today" and we learned a lot through her. She loved Jesus and was a testimony to His Grace until her final days.
One of the things she left in her house when she went into Rehab and then an Assisted Living facility, was a small aloe plant that had been one of the babies from the original "Jacob plant".
She had taken such good care of it and it was strong and healthy.
But, over the 3 months of her illness it got overwatered and our focus was not on a plant but on mom. It withered. It did not look good at all.
Just a week or so before she died I looked at it and I almost threw it out. I just couldn't quite do it, and then all the plans began to evolve for her funeral and then the estate distribution, etc. Busyness kept my focus off the plant.
About a month after she passed I returned for the estate stuff. I looked at the plant and the older leaves were withering but there was new growth beginnig to form.
I decided to keep it and put it in my car for the long journey home from Wisconsin to Georgia.
1/3 of the way home in Indiana, my mom's car that I was driving lost it's transmission and I ended up staying with some friends in Indiana for 5 days. The plant fell out of the car twice and off a luggage cart twice. Hope was dwindling for this little thing.
Eventually we made it home. Today, I looked at it after being home about a week. And this is what I saw...
The old leaves are gone.
and
New life is arriving.
Maybe I read too much into this stuff. But, I think God gives us these precious connections to give us hope. The old has gone, the new has come. Mama has new life.
I believe God's Faithfulnees is evident to us even in the small things of life.
To Him alone be the Glory for the Hope He has given.
PS The other thing that comes to mind with these goofy plants...they are really "healing" plants. They are used to help heal burns and other skin injuries. People even drink aloe drinks for health benefits.
More evidence of God's Healing Hand and His Faithfulness.
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