When Life Appears Where There Was None

John 15:1
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener.”

I am not the gardener in our house.

I like plants and the gifts they give us in the way of food and beauty, but my son is the gardener. Earlier this year he moved far away from home, and recently he came back to visit.

The first thing he did was check the garden.

When he saw the mulberry tree, he wasn’t happy.
“You killed it,” he said.

To be fair, the tree did look dead. We had gone through a season of endless rain, and I wondered if maybe it had been overwatered.

But because I am not a gardener, I did the one thing I know how to do well.

I prayed.

I asked God to look after the trees for me.

Today I made one of my rare trips into the backyard, and there at the bottom of the mulberry tree were a few small leaves and two tiny mulberries.

Life.

It may not look impressive yet, but it reminded me of something important:

I may not be the best gardener,
but I know the Master Gardener,
and He knows how to bring life from what looks like death.

Sometimes we look at parts of our lives and think it’s over. Too damaged. Too neglected. Too far gone.

But God sees roots we cannot see.

And where He is present, life can still return.