Your Life and the “Century Plant”

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It’s finally Friday…and I’m Pastor James St. John.

The “century plant,” or the Agave americana, puts on quite a show around this time of the year. The fact that it only blooms after 10 to 30 years or so makes it an uncommon sight for many, so local news outlets, newspapers (does anyone read those?), and social media are filled with pics and videos celebrating the arrival of a tall asparagus-like stalk that eventually blooms with greenish-yellow flowers.

Years ago, I saw my first “century plant” bloom along the highway on our many trips to Macon, GA. The days or weeks between each trip made it so I saw its appearance change dramatically, until the stalk fell over and the plant died. You see, that’s what it does. It blooms once and dies.

There are currently two “century plants” blooming in our immediate area. One is just across the road from us, in a neighbors yard. The other is along Georgia state highway 22/24, in front of what was once a plant nursery and is now a group of rental storage space. I’ve loved watching the blooming stalk of the one across the road slowly rise to 20+ feet and develop buds and bloom. The blooms are actually beginning to brown, now, which means it will not be long until the life cycle of that plant will end.

That’s life.

As I was walking along our road, this morning, I was struck by the thought of the time and energy that go into this cycle. This plant is, obviously, in no hurry. It really plays the “long game” when it comes to life. The older I get, the more I consider how much of our life is spent rushing from here to there, from one task to another, from one “shiny object” to another, from one “maybe this is the one thing that will finally put me over the top” to another…are you getting the picture.

In the long term, however, the illustration of the tortoise and the hare is a telling reminder that long-term discipline and consistency are what brings about the richest harvest in our lives.

This is especially true in the area of spiritual growth. Short term passion and intensity must give way to a transformed character that applies consistent and disciplined effort to yield an extravagant harvest, like the extravagant stalk and bloom of the century plant.

Here’s another interesting thing about the century plant and it’s life cycle.

After blooming, the plant dies, leaving offsets or ‘pups’ at the base, which begin a new life cycle.

https://www.chicagobotanic.org/plantinfo/century_plant

Like the century plant, we are reborn to reproduce. That happens with passion and urgency, but only yields fruit that lasts through consistent and disciplined effort, clothing ourselves with Christlikeness. Here’s a great summary of what that looks like.

¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. ¹³ Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ¹⁴ Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. ¹⁵ And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

Colossians 3:12-15 (NRSV)