Brandi Dredge

PLANTS

December 4, 2022 Brandi Dredge

“Plants always lean towards light.”

Words I read this morning in a devotion by Robin Meadows that I do with a friend. Words that came to life yesterday as my daughter, sister-in-law, nieces, and I rummaged through items of generations past at the antique stores in the downtown district of the city. Strolling streets made of bricks, then standing with a fixed gaze at the vibrant green vines stretching to the history etched in the ceiling of a mid-20th century building.
An old space trending with the times. The contrast of colors against sterile walls, the vibrancy of a violet, woodsy musk sailing across the room on the dry winter air. The inky corners spilling into the rows of plants leaning toward light.

I smile in the moment of awe at what is seen, felt, understood as a deep appreciation for what I can’t create a wonder within that surpasses the transforming journey of a building, I think about life and hear the words be like PLANTS.

P- Pray about everything. The joys, the sorrows. For the people you love, know, and those you don’t recognize. Pray for areas of growth and the times you shrivel.

L-Listen with expectation that the answer, the clarity over confusion, the comfort, the confirmation is on the way.

A- Act. Move your body, your mind, the needle forward in your life. Even if silence was the answer, do the next right thing. The thing that makes the flickering inside your wild heart grow brighter.

N- Nourish others and yourself through acts of kindness, words of encouragement and show grace in someone’s struggle including your own.

T- Teach. When you find that leaning toward the Light made your roots stronger, made you stand a little taller, gave you a strength to withstand more than you ever thought you could. Reach back to another plant standing in the shadow of doubts that minds cast and tell them about The Lean.

S- Surrender to the journey your life takes. There are cloudy days, rainy days, oversaturation, and drought. There are and will be weeds that try to smother you, to change you. There will be times, you feel burned by all the light you have received and retreat to the shadows. You’ll find yourself searching again for relief, for answers, for nourishment, and one day possibly even in the crisp air of winter you’ll feel a warmth you can’t explain reminding you that PLANTS need light and you will surrender to grace as you lean towards THE LIGHT.