I find the amaryllis to be an enchanting flower of Christmas, though it is technically not a Christmas flower. Surely you have seen the six-by-eight inch boxes at your local stores that come out around Thanksgiving. The pictures on the boxes display a flower that looks much like the one above. These unique and beautiful flowers have the ability to bloom indoors. They come in white, pink, pinkish-yellow, red, orange, and variegated colors.
The box is quite inexpensive, about seven dollars, and it includes a five inch plastic pot, plenty of dehydrated soil, and of course the bulb. It also includes weeks of joy as you watch the dead bulb give birth to beautiful flowers.
I have bought several of them throughout the years. When my kids were young, the flowers seemed mysterious and magical to them. The giant brownish bulb, about three inches in diameter, is quite plain; even ugly. It looks dead, somewhat like an old decaying onion or like something one would throw away.
We would soak the soil until it moistened and “grew” to fill the pot. The bulb was then buried two-thirds of the way into the soil, the thicker part with the roots down and the pointed part up. Then we would add just enough water to keep the soil moist, but not drenched. That was it. A toddler can do it. Other than putting the plant in a place where it will receive light, and keeping the soil moist which required a light watering every other day or so, there was no further maintenance.
The first few days nothing changes. Then the signs of life begin to come forth. First a little green peeks out, then inch by inch the growth continues until a thick stem pops out. The stem grows until it surpasses fifteen inches, and keeps growing. The amaryllis stem in the picture is twenty one inches high, and the elongated leaves are about thirteen inches long. Sometimes, like the amaryllis the picture, there is the double blessing of two stems.
Once the stem is done growing, the plant begins to produce buds that turn into the flowers. My kids loved to watch the stages of the growth. Each morning was a surprise, until the flowers fully opened and the true beauty of the flowers was exposed.
Each stem has a cluster of four flowers about seven inches in diameter. With my double stemmed plant, we had eight flowers that bloomed. The flower has a firm, smooth and satiny texture, much like an orchid. Sometimes, the flowers seem a bit top heavy, and the pot needs to be placed near a wall for support, to keep it from toppling over.
Unfortunately, a couple of the flowers and leaves were beginning to wilt by the time I thought of doing this post; as you can see in the picture.
What really strikes me about this plant is that these beautiful flowers came out of an ugly bulb that appeared to have no life in it at all.
I saw a similarity between the amaryllis plant and our spiritual life.
Jesus came to earth to mend our broken relationship with God. The healthy relationship we were meant to have was broken when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God. The Bible tells us we are dead in our sins. With the amaryllis plant, as the light and water reach the life-lacking bulb it can only bring life. It is that way with the light of Jesus and the water of the Holy Spirit. Our spiritually dead souls bloom like the amaryllis.
And like the amaryllis, life and beauty emerges in a way that should bless those around us.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2nd Corinthians 5:17
Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Romans 6:4
Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep My saying, he shall never see death. John 8.51
He that has the Son has life; and he that has not the Son of God has not life. 1st John 5.12
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and abides for ever. 1st Peter 1:23
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering towards us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 2nd Peter 3:9
Have Christ be in your Christmas this year. Claim your new life in Jesus today by inviting Him into your heart.
By ~ Elizabeth Yalian 2013 ©http://hiseyeisonthissparrow.com.
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