In a way, it is somewhat surprising that it has taken this long before I wrote about my beloved spider plants. Even though I do NOT love the arachnids from whence they derive their names, spider plants are by far my choice of plants to grow.
I have joked in the past that my love of these plants comes from their similarity to myself: they are extremely resilient; they are not high maintenance; and they have lots of babies! The real reason I love these plants though, is that they survive the harshest extremes my area’s climate can dish out. I have always longed to have a “green thumb” like my mother and grandmother had. My grandma could grow anything from just a twig and my mother successfully grew some of the more delicate species of plants. It seemed to take a long time for my “black thumb” to change to green, but it finally did, thanks in large part to the tenacious spider plant.
I cannot remember where I acquired my first spider plant. It was before we moved to our house more than seventeen years ago. We moved in in February, and I inadvertently left this plant outside unattended. My children were ecstatic when we experienced a snowfall shortly afterwards. When the snow melted, I found that my poor plant had frozen to what I thought was an untimely death. As busy as I was, I left the pot to sit outside until I could repurpose it in the spring. Much to my surprise, however, when spring arrived, there were some new, green, spiky leaves poking up in the pot! By summer, the plant had fully regrown and had even multiplied with spider plant “babies” hanging over the sides of the pot. I snipped off the babies, rooted them in water, and planted them in pots of their own. These plants have continued to do well, making it through our hot, hot summers and our cold, sometimes snowy winters.
It actually took me a couple of years to discover the secret of the spider plant’s strength. The time had come to repot one of the plants. When I shook the dirt off the roots, I found not the spindly little roots that I was used to in other plants, but thick, tuber-like roots capable of storing water and nutrients. No wonder my plant had survived the harsh winter that first year! Even though there was nothing showing on the surface, my plant had stored what it needed to make it through and flourish in the next season.
Maybe you have already guessed where I am heading with this story. In the Bible, we are taught several times to be “rooted” in Jesus. Most of the time when I read that, I had pictured a tree standing tall with a root system to match what I could see above ground. I think the real picture of this rooting, at least during the more difficult or harsh times in our lives, is much more like my spider plants. We may have absolutely nothing left to give in an especially hard season, but if we are deeply rooted in Jesus, we have everything we need to flourish again. Like the spider plant, we can have a deep reserve hidden underneath. For us, this reserve comes in the form of God’s word hidden in our hearts and from the comfort of the Holy Spirit within us.
The other way we as followers are like my spider plants is in our multiplication. It is a strange phenomenon, but throughout history and around the world, whenever Christians are persecuted, the Church grows exponentially. Most of my friends, if they are plant people, have received a spider plant baby from me. Just like the Church, it almost seems that the years my plants go through the harshest weather are the years they produce the most offspring. Again, God gives us deep resilience when we rely on Him. The important thing is to soak up His word during our good times just as my plants soak up nutrients for difficult times.
“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” Colossians 2:6-7
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