Everywhere I Go: Learning to See JesusSample

PLANTING AND PULLING UP Have you ever planted caladium bulbs? Caladiums are a horticultural staple in Houston, Texas, during the spring and summer months. Yard after yard in our city is accented by caladiums ﾖ white, pink, and green ﾖ and each time I see them I think, someone waited. Caladium bulbs are gnarled and ugly, and after you plant them, you wait. First, small, blade-like shoots appear, and then the shoots unfold into leaves. They flatten out and "show their colors," and you're on your way to Yard-of-the-Month. (Maybe.) When caladium season is over, you can dig up your bulbs, store them in a cool dark place, and replant them again next year. But if you miss a few bulbs, come spring you'll see caladiums inching through your ground cover in your flower beds, and the asymmetrical effect may not be what you had hoped for. Solomon observed that there is "a time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted." There is a time to plant, and a time to harvest. They cannot be switched. A pattern exists, and it must be followed to achieve the desired results. What is planted must remain planted, too. The process cannot be hurried along. "Leave the bulbs alone," wrote C.S. Lewis, "and the new flowers will come up. Grub them up and hope, by fondling and sniffing, to get last year's blooms, and you will get nothing." There is a time to plant, and a time to uproot.