Mother's Day Fail

I was working in my backyard a few weeks ago when I received a text from a dear friend. On her way out of town, she had just dropped a “happy” at my front door. “Working in my backyard” has nothing to do with gardening tools for this girl, so I paused from my laptop labor and shortly made it to the door to find a beautiful, blossoming Zinnia and a sweet Mother’s Day message waiting. It was just what I needed! As a co-laborer both in Christ and in raising young adults, she grasps how much encouragement is essential to persevering in parenting.I took the plant out back, read the instructions to see that it required full sun, and enjoyed looking at it for the remainder of the day. If only the story ended there. About 48 hours later, I opened the backdoor to find that my gorgeous plant was a withered mess. Water would have been a good idea. Sigh. I had not even allowed it to survive Mother’s Day weekend. This must have been a new record of destruction for me. I rushed it inside and began to water the dry foliage. Honestly, I was not very hopeful that it could recover. I began thinking of how I was going to explain this disaster to my sweet, gift-bearing friend.As each day passed, my sweet plant began to improve. By the end of the week, I was confident that, minus two blooms, it would make a full recovery. As I thought about this turn around, I couldn’t help but see the irony that this was a Mother’s Day gift. On its worst day, my Zinnia looked how I can feel as a mom. Tired. Dried up. Spent. In other ways, it represented those areas in my children that I am constantly praying over yet still appear unresponsive and lifeless.Whether you have small kids or adult children, we can have our moments when we look at the efforts of our labor and it appears to just be hanging on by a thread. We cannot give up. Our children are dependent upon us to trust that our labor is not in vain. We must continue to water and tend to our blossoms even when it appears as if perhaps the seed just fell upon the rocky soil. Sometimes we are wrong. Sometimes it just takes a few more seasons of tender loving care.I am reminded that 75% of a child’s personality is shaped by the age of 5. In those hands-on years, you are shaping those blooms. You are helping to plow the soil so roots can grow deep. And just when you think you have lost your influence with your emerging adult, remember that the last 25% of their personality is shaped at puberty.If you are like me and forget to water on occasion, don’t give up. Praise God that His creation is resilient and never beyond the Master Gardener’s loving care.