I was standing in my kitchen, casually sorting through the post when an almighty crash echoed from the window behind me. In a flash, snake-like green tentacles, edged with sharp teeth, slithered past my legs, leaving slimy trails across the floor. Alien invasion? Not quite. It was just my overly large Aloe Vera plant, which had finally outgrown its pot and decided to make a bid for freedom.
The sight of my beloved plant sprawled across the floor gave me the perfect excuse to take some cuttings and grow a new one – a smaller, more compact, less like Medusa on a bad hair day. With a quick search online, I found instructions that seemed simple enough. Fast forward 24 hours, and 14 fresh cuttings were sitting in pots. My vision of a perfectly sized Aloe Vera plant was well underway. There might even be a few to give away! Four weeks later, the dream died – quite literally. All of the cuttings were dead. So, undeterred, I took some more cuttings. This time, I followed the steps with even greater care. Fourteen soon-to-be plants now sat on my windowsill. Three weeks later, I was left with six dead and two that looked like they were on their way out. An improvement, but still, my dream of becoming Cherry Willingham’s resident Aloe Vera expert seemed a distant hope.
When things don’t go as planned, it’s easy to feel disappointed, get impatient or give up, just as we might when our life dreams don’t seem to be working out. The temptation to yank up a healthy cutting just to check the roots is strong, even though it would ruin its chances.
The Bible is filled with stories of people whose dreams or promises seemed like they were never going to happen. Take Abraham, for instance, who was promised to be "the father of many nations" – a promise made when he was 75 years old and childless. Or Joseph, the one with the famous Technicolor™ coat, who dreamt that people would bow down to him, yet found himself thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, and later imprisoned. But eventually, he rose to become a leader renowned for his wisdom (you can read more about this in Genesis 37). And let’s not forget Abraham and his wife Sarah who, despite their age, had a child together. There are countless examples of dreams and promises that seemed impossible, but two key lessons emerge from many of these stories. First, if God makes a promise, He keeps it. And second, alongside hard work, perseverance and patience play a crucial role in seeing our hopes come to fruition.
So, should I plant some more cuttings? Well, maybe that’s a lesson in perseverance for another day!
