Buds

The other day, I was visiting in a home and saw a vase full of dead sticks. Quite useless. Quite unattractive. But I knew why they were there. They were pussywillows clipped from a shrub outside and brought into the warmth of the house to remind the homeowners that spring is on the way.

Of course, what we notice about pussywillows are the buds. They are the first woody stem plants to bud up in the spring. So eager gardeners give themselves hope by bringing a few indoors to get a head start on the growing season.

This is all an illusion, of course. In cutting the stems from the shrub and bringing them inside, the gardener sacrifices life for the sake of appearances. For a while, it looks like the pussywillows are flourishing. Drawing water from the vase, the buds swell, then pop open revealing the furry little grey catkins, for which seekers of spring long. This is the buds’ moment of glory.

They look so robust for a day or two. They look like they have great potential. Then, the stems begin to dry out. They still have decorative value. But instead of speaking of burgeoning new life, they speak of death.

Meanwhile, outside, the living buds form on the branches. More slowly than the cut stems protected by the warmth inside the house, they swell with life. But, still drawing nourishment from the root, they fulfil their potential for life.

People, too, may look very good though they are disconnected from the Source of life. They may be healthy, smart, attractive, and fairly bursting with life, but this stage doesn't last indefinitely. When the physical shell begins to deteriorate, there is no spiritual life within to carry the promise of life to its full potential.

The Bible tells us that we all come into the world in the condition of spiritual death. We all start out disconnected from the root of life, unlike plants in the natural domain. However, we do have the potential to be grafted back into the Root from which we can draw the nourishment that fills us with spiritual life in the present and offers hope for an eternal future.

Don’t be deceived by the way things look. For a few days, the cut pussywillow stem looks better than its former neighbours which are still outside on the shrub. But it is really dead. Likewise, there’s a way that seems right to us humans, but it ends up in death. Or as we read in one paraphrase, “there’s a way of life that looks harmless enough; look again—it leads straight to hell.” (Proverbs 14:12 MSG)

Ron Hughes
© March 2009