The Journey

Last year we purchased new members of the family Abelia plants, we wanted to grow a hedge for our garden outside. We were excited but a few months later we were disappointed because the plants were not growing as we had anticipated.

My husband was already thinking of removing the plants and planting a different type of plant. During the Corvid 19 lockdown, I started giving attention to my Abelia. I suspected that maybe the problem could be the flowering of the plants, this is most common with herbs. The plant was producing a lot of flowers but it was not growing. So I started cutting the flowers from the Abelia plant and glory hallelujah!!!! Abelia started growing.

Flowers are the reproductive organs of plants. When pollinated, flowers develop into fruits containing seeds. However, producing flowers, fruits, and seeds is not easy. Plants devote lots of resources and energy to grow these specialized organs and stops focusing on creating foliage. Since I wanted to grow a hedge I needed the foliage more than the flowers.

I started pinching off the new growth of flowers, frequently to encourage constant production of new leaves and delay flowering and seed production. While Abelia was just focusing on its main purpose which is to produce seeds.

Doesn’t the above sound familiar? When we get to know our purpose or what we want to do in life, we just want to arrive at our destination/accomplish the goal. Get me right I am not talking about procrastination but parts of the journey which we usually don’t want to go through, or those unforeseen circumstances which seem to delay us. When we know the destination we just want to arrive. Joseph dreamed of his brothers bowing to him, not the cistern nor jail but the cistern and jail were part of the journey.

Accomplishing your goals is very important but so is the journey. The processing, shaping, and growing are in the journey. This reminds me of when Mary heard Gabriel say “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” I bet she did not think stable or Herod wanting to kill her baby. But she had to go through the process.  The Abelia plant without the process will be just a bush, but with the journey which encompasses pitching’s, pruning, and shaping it will be a beautiful hedge.

Chase after those goals but don’t run with your eyes closed, enjoy the journey. Learn and grow from all the stops, they are meant for your good.