What comes between us and our ability to wait? Have we come to believe results define success as a rule rather than one method? This orchid reminds me that somethings truly deserve the wait.
My oldest daughter gave this green-tinted orchid to me her freshman year in college. The gift came with the worry that I would kill the tropical beauty. Almost seven years later, the signs of thriving are evident, but the orchid is only blooming for the second time.
Over the years, I transplanted it, changed window lighting, came ever so close to throwing the orchid out because the plant itself is small and scraggly. Hope for change and a chance to once again see the spectacle open, the orchid dodged the compost pile.
My mother had orchids. She wore an orchid corsage every Easter and Mother's Day to church on her dress that she had made. Usually her dress was not newly made as the midnight's before Easter, her hands would be guiding a new frock for one of us daughters through the stitches. We had to go to church in a new dress. We made sure she went to church in an orchid.
Her one favorite orchid didn't bloom for ten years. She moved the plant from the farm in Missouri up to Michigan hoping to see the deep magenta one more time. The artistic display of this tropical parasite fostered the spirit of waiting, a trait I have apparently inherited.
During this season of Lent, the orchid blooms once again reminding me that waiting is not a bad process. When we wait too long, our way can feel lost, doubt can work havoc on nerves and focus. Waiting, however, is the path to trust. Trust is the element of freedom that promises the wait will be worth while.
Contemplating the complete aloneness of Christ's final hours from the garden to the cross, I see his trust carry him through the extreme, hideous nature of humanity. His trust in a greater plan, brought acceptance through sacrifice of His role in a greater mystery. God asks us to trust Him in the good and especially the difficult times, but trust is a two way street. He needs to trust that we won't just give up on Him and walk away because we are waiting for something more.
If I can learn this Lent the freedom that comes through trust, then nothing I wait for will be enough to devour my hope to see God's glory in my life, and that is worth the wait.