Well, it happened again. A beautiful plant gifted to me by a friend has met its untimely demise. My famous brown thumb is once again the culprit to blame, and I’m sorry to say good-bye.

There are areas of my life that are honestly just a struggle. One of those involves my inability to keep plants alive. For that very reason, I love a good pothos plant.

Basically, once I get it in some potting soil and semi-decent drainage, if I can remember to water it and keep it out of burning hot sunlight (don’t ask me how I know that), it’s a pretty happy plant.

Even less complicated is to just cut a runner off of one of my healthier plants and place it in a jar of water. In a matter of weeks, my happy little pothos cutting has sprouted roots. In fact, one of my favorite plants in my house can be found in a large vase next to my bathtub. It’s full of pothos cuttings that have taken off and keep producing new, shiny green leaves. The roots of the cuttings are all intermingled and tangled together. I don’t want to disturb them, so they’ll live out their happy little pothos lives in that vase.

I love a little greenery, and I love that these plants don’t seem to have a death wish. I have at least one of these plants in just about every room in my house. Every few months, I’ll go around the house and give some of the plants a “haircut,” trimming back some of the runners. Then I’ll either toss the long tendrils that have grown out or place the cuttings in jars of water.

To keep it from taking too much surface space, I’ll occasionally decide to train a plant to grow upwards instead of outwards. I’ll take a thin dowel, trim it to a certain length, shove it in the potting soil, wrap a tendril or two around the stick, and secure it in a couple of places with fancy bread wrapper ties. I’m very careful to work with the direction and bent of the tendril because more than once, I’ve tried to force a tendril to wrap a certain way only to hear a sharp “snap” – and the tendril is broken off.

Fortunately, the eternal consequences of snapping off the tendril of a plant are nonexistent. But training a child’s heart is significantly more important. That dowel for one of my plants gives it direction and lifts it up and away from the dense growth below. Those fancy bread wrapper ties give the plant security until it’s trained well enough to cling to the dowel with no support.

For those of us to whom God has entrusted with the wonderful job of training children – whether in the home, in the classroom, in the church setting - He gives us His Word as a sure, strong support to help us to help our children pursue and appreciate the direction He has for their lives. He equips us with strong, loving arms to wrap around these children as we nurture and support them for the brief season that they are “ours.”

We get to be the fancy bread wrapper ties that guide and hold our children close to the Word. And one day when our children are mature and healthy and strong, we’ll be able to slowly pull away and let them thrive and flourish with only minimal support from us.

But oh, how gentle we must be! These precious tendrils – these children - have a God-given bent, and we must be tender and careful to work with the way they were made so that we don’t “snap” and break their spirits. Proverbs 4:1-2 says, “Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding. I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching.” A healthy tendril responds to a father’s instruction. A tendril that’s been “snapped” by harsh words or unrealistic expectations rebels and removes itself from the support and direction offered.

This task was never intended to be taken on without reliance on the strength and wisdom of the Lord. Even with green thumbs, we are horrible keepers of our gardens without the Master and His trustworthy Guidebook. With His arms wrapped gently around us, holding our hands as we care for our charges, allowing Him to model for us and move us, we can submit this tending of these precious souls to the Perfect Father. Proverbs 3:5-6 contains a simple but powerful mandate for Christians but especially for Christian parents and caregivers: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” We must trust the outcome of our hard work and fervent prayers to our Sovereign God.

Oh, that there were a “one size fits all” formula for every situation and every child. But God is too good for that! Each one is unique, beautiful, individual – and perfectly made in His image. He invites us to join Him in this amazing experience of raising up souls to know Him, know His Word, know His heart, know His purpose for their lives, and know true life in Him. May we recognize and embrace this opportunity to tend this garden gently, working with each specific bent, and leaning on the wisdom and love of the Master Gardener. We can then rejoice with Him in the beauty and life that flourish in His hands!