Abide in Love

Every spring, my mother-in-law sets out to find Boston ferns to decorate her front porch. She searches for the best price for the lushest ferns.

Handpicking each one, she brings them home and begins the process of replanting them. She frees them from the original housing and rehomes them into beautiful, black, wrought iron hangers with coco mat liners for visual appeal and optimal growth.

To add the final touch, she places a clear plastic dish that hooks onto the bottom of the hanger. She fills it with water, providing a constant water supply to her beloved ferns. My mother-in-law lovingly performs this ritual each year.

After the effort she puts into giving the ferns a lovely, healthy environment, she makes sure to check the water dishes under the plants regularly, and she turns the plants every few hours to help each side of the plant receive equal amounts of sunlight. Feeding them when needed and stripping away any dead leaves that would deprive the healthy leaves of nourishment are also part of her horticultural duties. One might think this is way too much work to put into a plant, but she has the biggest, most beautiful ferns I have ever seen.

Her love and attention are evident in each of those fern fronds. They abide in her love, attention, and care and respond in kind by producing a luxuriant abundance of beauty as they flourish and blossom under her loving touch.

When we abide in the love of Jesus, we, too, will thrive and flourish. Jesus said that He has loved us with the same love His Father loves Him.

We need only to abide in that love. It offers all the nourishment and attention we need to blossom and grow. John reminds us, “We have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 John 4:16, ESV). Jesus is the Living Water and the Bread of Life we need to receive each day, and this is His assurance to us: “God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19, ESV). When we remain close to Him, He promises to continually supply our daily needs. We simply need to receive the love He offers. There is no greater love than Jesus’ love.

Cyndi Woods