March 10, 2023, is a day I will never forget. It’s the day I became a mom, well a plant mom to be exact. I had been gifted with a plant for my birthday along with a beautiful card from a friend. I am not hard a person to please when it comes to gifts. I simply appreciate the fact that someone thought of me on my special day. I had no idea how becoming a plant mom would change my life, but it did. A part of me was scared to take on the responsibility of caring for a plant, but since I cherish the gift so much because it came from a place of love, I wanted to do everything in my power to keep it alive. In the past for school projects, I had been given the task of planting and growing plants, but they eventually perished. So, I had little expectation that my birthday plant baby, KC, would survive beyond a few days in my custody.
In the beginning, I had no idea how to care for KC. My ignorance of what kind of plant KC was was the main contributor to me not knowing what KC needed to keep blossoming. So, as the average non-green thumb person, I watered KC, put her in sunlight, and hoped for the best. My plant baby did well for a while but started to notice her flowers were starting to wither and the leaves were becoming discolored. I reached out to one of my friends for support as I realized my plant was dying and I didn’t know what was causing it it to die, since after all I was watering it and keeping it in sunlight. My friend identified that I had a succulent plant and sent me some online resources about how to properly tend to those types of plants. I scanned the websites, trying to figure out how to save my baby, but didn’t thoroughly investigate to understand what KC needed. I became frustrated because my efforts to save her weren’t working and I had accepted in my heart that she would die, since that was my expectation from the time that I received her. How many times have you expected death concerning things in your life?
Three months into my plant mom adventure, KC indeed died. I was sad and disappointed that once again I killed a beautiful plant. My initial thought was to throw KC away, I instead placed her in the corner of my living room and forgot about her. How many times have you accepted the death of a thing, relationships, or dreams and walked away from it? Several weeks later I was sitting on the sofa in my living room and was prompted by the Lord to go look at KC. To my surprise, a beautiful yellow flower had blossomed from a plant that had no leaves and looked completely lifeless. I was stunned that KC was able to bloom in the dried and shriveled state that she was in. Although I had given up on KC, she didn’t give up on herself! I looked upon the flower in amazement, and my hope in keeping it alive was renewed.
With renewed hope, I started caring about KC again. The minute I saw that KC was dead, I stopped caring about her and put no effort into caring for her. What have you stopped nurturing? I made a Target run and got some fresh soil for KC to spread her roots in. I was still somewhat clueless as to exactly what she needed, so I took KC on a road trip to my grandma’s, the only green thumb person I know in my family. My grandmother informed me that I needed to put KC in a bigger pot. So, I let my grandma work her plant magic and didn’t worry about KC while I visited family and friends. A few days into my visit, I noticed the one flower KC bloomed that I was so excited to see was no longer there. I couldn’t believe that I had trusted KC in the hands of my grandma, and now, the flower that gave me hope was gone! I was low-key mad at my grandma and doubted her green thumb skills. Yes, I, the person who has never kept a plant alive a day in my life, doubted someone who had been caring for plants all my life. I also noticed that she had replanted and split KC into 4 individual plants. It made no sense to me why my grandma would split KC into 4, but I chose to trust my grandma’s expertise. I also learned that I was watering KC too much and that’s probably what killed her.
I returned home from my trip more determined than ever to help my plant baby thrive. One day as I was moving KC, I broke the flower pot she was sitting in. I was upset that I broke the beautiful pot that I got her in, but I went on Amazon and found a bigger and even more stunning and colorful pot to put KC. This new pot matches my vibrant personality and made KC stand out! As the weeks went by, I noticed that the 4 plants started to grow. I still had no idea exactly what kind of succulent KC was, so I finally took my sister’s advice and downloaded a plant app called Plant Parent to learn KC’s identity, so I could be educated on how to continue to keep my plant baby alive. From this app, I learned that KC is a Florist Kalanchoe and I indeed was watering her way too much! I was led by the Holy Spirit to research the meaning of Kalanchoe, which means “that which falls and grow.” I was speechless to learn that KC’s name means to fall and grow because she did exactly what her name means. She fell and grew back again!
Recently during my prayer time, God revealed to me that KC is symbolic of my growth journey! I realized that there have been seasons of my life where I have flourished and seasons where I was dry and dying on the inside. I had no idea who I was in God, so I couldn’t fully love myself. It wasn’t until I went back to my creator, Jesus, to learn of my God-given identity that I was able to start growing. For the past 2 years, I have been going through a process of spiritual rebirth. That which was dead in my life had to fall off of me so that I could grow and blossom. I had to be replanted (relocated) to a new environment that would support my growth. I had to learn to not expect and speak death over my life. I am learning to trust the Holy Spirit to provide the right amount of watering (healing, breakthrough, deliverance, renewal of my mind) that He knows I can handle in this season of my life, so I can thrive.
I never would have thought that caring for a plant would lead me to such spiritual revelations, but I am grateful that God spoke to my friend’s heart for her to gift me with KC. I have never felt more alive in God than I do now. You may find yourself in need of spiritual rebirth, so I urge you to return to your Heavenly Father (the source of all truth), so he can minister to your heart, remind you of your identity in Him, strip you of every dead thing that is sucking the life out of you, and breathe new life in you! People may have spoken death over you. You may have even spoken death over yourself, relationships, and dreams. But God says YOU WILL LIVE and NOT DIE! God will revive you so that His purpose for your life is fulfilled in Earth. Just like KC, you may have fallen, but you will grow again!
*KC is magnificently sitting in her multi-colored pot in the featured image for this article. Doesn’t she look beautiful?