Dormant Doesn’t Mean Dead

The last month passed by in a blur as our extended family has walked through several health challenges that demanded our full attention. One of the most crucial challenges to overcome was helping my grandma recover from a broken shoulder. Grandma beautifully plays the part of the matriarch and heart of our family. We wanted to become a source of comfort, care, and community during her healing journey, because this is who she has been for us for our entire lives. 

How can you possibly repay the blessings to someone who has spent your entire lifetime nurturing, encouraging, and providing for you? 

When the calendar switched from May to June so did the hectic rhythm of bouncing from the baseball fields to the softball fields while trying to make sure the boys were rested enough for summer school the next day. With so many games on the schedule, it didn’t leave us quite as much margin for a high quantity of time to help Grandma. However, two ways Nathan and I could help were to keep Grandma’s and Mom’s flowers watered and keep Mom’s pool clean. Watering flowers and pool upkeep might seem like simple chores to help with, but with our area experiencing a drought in June, it wasn’t easy. Our thinking was, if we can keep their flowers and pool in good shape, then it will bring them joy once Grandma was discharged from the hospital. Who would want to come home to shriveled up flowers or an algae filled pool?! 

On one of my first trips to water flowers, I noticed one plant on my grandma’s deck was almost dead. It was in such rough shape that I couldn’t tell what kind of plant it was. Almost all of my grandma’s other plants were hanging in there, but this one plant was not looking promising. There was one green leaf surrounded by many brown, shriveled, dried up stems, leaves, and buds.

For some reason I didn’t have the heart to give up on this plant. So I decided that I would continue to water it each day with the hope that maybe I could nurse it back to health. At this point, I knew very little about nurturing plants, however I reasoned now is as good as any other time to learn, right?

Maybe somewhere inside of me, I thought if I could nurse this plant back to life that it would help encourage Grandma in her healing journey, too. 

I wish I would have taken a picture of the plant as I began watering it, but I wasn’t confident that the water was going to make a difference. Sometimes in life, we aren’t aware of the beginnings of new growth. It isn’t until a few days, weeks, months, or years of cultivating a new skill that we seek the fruits of our labor. 

Within a few days of daily watering, I couldn’t believe what I saw. There was another set of green leaves sprouting and two buds blooming! There was enough of the plant that I was able to describe it to my mom, and she told me it was a wave petunia. It was if this petunia was trying to wave to get my attention to teach me that dormant doesn’t always mean dead. 

I am still not a flower expert by any means. However, seeing this plant start to come back to life inspired me to learn more. I learned that sometimes in seasons of drought, flowers turn dormant in an effort to preserve what’s left. 

Dictionary.com defines dormant as:

• temporarily inactive or slowed down for a period of time
• alive, but not actively growing
• not active but capable of becoming alive. 

Watering these flowers day after day and then week after week became a blessing for me, because with each flower I watered, another memory of spending time with my grandma surfaced. As the flowers started coming back to life, precious memories continued to rise from my subconscious. 

You see, when I was a little girl, my grandma took great care in intentionally cultivating flower beds throughout her yard and taking care of the birds who visited her yard by providing bird seed, baths, and houses. Some of my favorite memories from childhood were slowly walking through her yard with her each summer, holding her hand, and learning about the different flowers in each purposely sectioned off flower bed. She taught me to look intently to examine the birds who visited her yard. Although Grandma took such meticulous care with each flower and bird, I remember her hands were always soft and her fingernails were beautifully polished pink or red. 

As the days turned to weeks, I continued to water each flower. One day I noticed something surprising. As I bent down to water the wave petunia, I spotted several more new leaves sprouting and blooms blossoming. I couldn’t help but giggle out loud from the abundance of joy that this plant was bringing to me. 

This plant’s new growth reminded me of other areas in our lives that may have appeared to be dormant or even dead: 

• Dreams we wished for
• Hopes we longed for
• Expectations gone unmet

As I continued filling the watering can, I made the daily choice to nourish this dormant plant. I wasn’t sure if or when it would begin blooming again, but I took a chance on the possibility of growth. 

We can do the same with our own dormant dreams. Like this plant, we may not see the blooms of what we nourish in the short term, but with small steps of faith and obedience, we never know when our efforts might sprout new growth.

Friend, I wonder what dreams, hopes, and expectations may feel dormant in your life right now? As we think about these areas, what might be some small, daily steps we could take to nourish these areas, so we will be ready to bloom in God’s perfect timing?

Maybe these small steps might look like:

• Exploring online courses to grow our skillset 
• Making connections with others who are a few steps ahead of us in pursuing our dreams
• Volunteering or job shadowing others who are in the space we dream of occupying

Perhaps there is more growth happening under the surface of our lives, creating healthy root systems that will allow us to bloom when it’s time. Maybe it’s time to embrace this season of slow growth knowing in God’s perfect time we will see evidence of this growth. Paul encourages us in Galatians 6:9: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” 

Friend, let’s keep nurturing our hopes and dreams. Maybe this will be the season that we experience blooming in unexpected places.