Reflections of a Plant Mom

I’ve tried to be a Plant Mom before, but I’ve inevitably killed every plant I’ve owned within a matter of weeks. I’ve lost flowers, ferns, succulents – you name it, I’ve failed to keep it alive. I even once killed a cactus in a week. A WEEK. (And no, I didn’t over-water it.)

But most of my current plant babies have been going strong for over a year, and they are not only surviving but thriving! Turns out, all I needed to be a good plant mom was proper sunlight. All those labels on my previous plants that said they were fine with just indoor light were a complete lie. You would think indoor lighting would still allow the plants to grow, but it doesn’t.

This very profound plant revelation has gotten me thinking though how applicable this is to our own human lives. We need the proper sunlight — or rather, SONlight — otherwise we wither and die. We need the Son shining His light on us. He alone is what feeds us and nourishes us, through His very self in the Eucharist. Any other person or thing that gets in the way of getting what we need to survive, gets in the way of the Son, will not sustain us. Artificial light sources don’t fulfill us; don’t help us to thrive. Only the true light from the Son can give us what we need, and have us blossoming even more fully than the plants on my windowsill.