Air plants

I just purchased 5 air plants to keep at the office.  I had one years ago and neglected it and it died.  Yes, I know, it's pretty hard to kill something that only requires a soaking in water twice a week and some air.

Air plants are not only attractive, they are unique as they do not require any soil or fertilizer.  They can withstand neglect pretty well as long as it is not for too long.  They can grow just about anywhere and will change colors over the year as they bloom.  When they are in need of water their leaves will curl up and have a dried out appearance.  A healthy soaking and some indirect sunlight will revive them back to normal.  Occasionally they will need dried dead leaves pruned off to maintain their beauty.   

The correlation to ourselves is pretty close.  We don't technically require much to survive although we are spoiled and want more for comfort.  But besides food, water, and shelter, we don't need a whole lot to survive. But we don't want to just survive.  We want to thrive.  In order to do that we need a health relationship with God.

We need daily prayer and conversation with God in order to bloom otherwise we too tend to wither up and dry out.  A healthy "soaking" of prayer time, retreat, or Bible reading can again revive us and show our true beauty.  We too occasionally need the old dead leaves of bad habits, sins, and vices to be pruned in order to maintain our healthy appearance physically as well as emotionally. A good confession will purge us of old deadweight and the forgiveness of God will cause a renewed strength.