Growing in Chaos: Divine Lessons from My House Plants

I believe it is a gift of mine to look at everything through a spiritual lens and to always find the lesson in the chaos. It is a gift that I have great appreciation for. It has, in many cases, helped me to understand things that the “world’s eye” couldn’t quite comprehend. Another gift God has given me is being sensitive to all living things around me, like my house plants, and my ability to see them as teachers. If you didn’t know, from a spiritual understanding, nature is God’s way of placing many hidden treasures and lessons, and only those who can slow down and tune in can discover them. I am blessed to say that I have this gift of tuning out the world and tuning into nature and God.

Standing Tall In The Face of Chaos

Just recently, I had a renovation done in my home. It came from some water damage on the floors that started the week of Thanksgiving and ended up being a month-long process. I had all of my floors removed from my front door to the patio. I had a plethora of contractors coming in and out of my home for that whole month, and ended up spending a couple of weeks in a hotel while the renovation was going on. While all this was happening, my plants had to endure all the chaotic energy of it. I am very sensitive and in tune with my home. I put a lot of intention, prayer, and loving energy into my home and my plants. While I was away at a hotel, I remember getting sent a picture of the progression of the renovation, and all I could see was one of my plants slumped over in the back of the frame. (thankfully, it was only because she had grown taller while I was away and just simply toppled over on her own weight). It wasn’t until after I moved back into my home and caught up with my plants that I realized that they had not only survived the crazies of renovation, but they had all GROWN during this time. That is when the lesson of this blog fell upon me. The art of growing in the face of chaos and refusing to succumb to the circumstances. There is a bible verse that speaks of this:

2 Corinthians 4:8 “While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things that are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Basically stating to become blind to circumstantial evidence and lean only on the truth of God, which is good. We must remember that in the chaos of hardship is where our light must shine the brightest. It is in chaos that your strength is refined, and the hero in you is found. For how would we know the power or importance of a hero without chaos?

I could give you a few of my personal testimonies that bear witness to this verse, but we will save that for another time. Instead, let us go into some key pointers from this exact lesson of standing tall in the face of chaos.

Building A Positive Inner Home

Your inner home can be viewed as your mind and spirit. The spirit itself is the driver of your vehicle, which is your flesh. So it is important to have an inner home that is nourished with good thoughts, positive self-image, and quality self-talk. Bishop RC Blakes explained it as having an inner coach, not an inner critic. This pointer of adapting a positive inner home is the very technique that will get you out of the muddest of situations, and you will for sure come out as clean as a button.

We must be in constant conversation with God, and again, I will reiterate to keep our minds focused only on what is of God, which is good. The book “The Power of the Subconscious Mind” by Joseph Murphy talks about this. I like to interpret it as your subconscious mind being represented by the soil that grows the seed of thought (the conscious mind), and from that, the quality of your subconscious impressions will be made manifest weither it be good or bad. So it is key, especially in a hardship, to only impress your subconscious mind on what you would RATHER see, not WHAT you see. As the bible teaches, “let the weak say, I am strong” (Joel 3:10).

Another verse I would like to reference for this section is: Romans 12:2 “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

You might be wondering, “well how does a plant have a positive self-image of positve self talk?” well that is where we come into our next part of this lesson, the art of praise.

The Art of Praise

I learned of the power of praise through some esoteric teachings of the bible by Rev. Ike. He explained in one of his sermons that everything responds to your love, your praise, and your spirit. He made an example out of people who are good with plants, stating that the plants are responding to the PRAISE and love from the individual. My great grandmother use to say that you have to talk to your plants to help them grow. Before I became so deep into my plant motherhood, I thought this was just an old southern saying. Until I learned about the power of praise. EVERYTHING responds to your praise. Rev. Ike also said to “praise a child for the good that he/she does and that will motivate the child to be better.” Praise God for the good he does in your life, and it will multiply.

Returning to the plants, I am sure to praise my plants every chance that I get. So yes, I am proud to say that I speak to my plants, and because of that, I usually have new sprouts on all of my plants fairly around the same time. I have many new sprouts on my monstera plant, about four new leaves are growing currently, and many more will be following. I praise them for growing towards the heavens and staying resilient even in times of renovation.

Let’s think for a moment:

When was the last time you gave someone praise?

When was the last time you gave yourself praise?

When was the last time you gave God praise?

How would praise benefit you and your situation right now?

The Spirit of Your Home Must Be Protected

We come now to the spirit of our home. This is vital. Whether you acknowledge it or not, your home itself is a spirit; it is a living and breathing energy that must be tended to, cared for, and protected. The spirit of your home is sensitive and sacred, and it must be guarded just as you guard your heart. How does this connect to the plants? Well, the plants are residents of that home, correct? We spoke about our plants responding to the praise and love you give them, so why would they not be affected by the energy of your home (both the inner home of the spirit and mind, and the outer home of your physical sanctuary)? Your home is merely a reflection of the inner home, and vice versa. What affects your home (the physical home) can affect the inner home.

So let’s take a look at the spirit of our home.

Are we intentional about the objects we bring into the home?

How do the objects we bring into our home make us feel?

Are we organized or cluttered?

Do we expose ourselves and our home to draining and negative energies?

One last question to reflect on: Is our home a place where we can heal and refill our cup after being out in the world?

My Plant Named Prosperity

My plant prosperity was given to me by my mother. She said that she did not have enough natural sunlight for it (it’s a monstera, and they typically need medium to high sunlight), and also, she just didn’t know what else to do with it since it appeared to be dying. Being the loving plant mother I am (this is me praising myself, the art of praise applies to self too), I decided to take the plant in and knew exactly what she needed.

One day, when I was repotting her into new soil, I had another sensitive moment where I realized she pretty much reflected me when I first moved to Atlanta. She was a plant in rehad or “in her becoming/healing stage,” coming into my home with other thriving big vibrant plants. Much like how I felt when I was exposed to women and other creatives here that seemed to already have it together, and I was the newbie, from a small town, just trying to figure this thing out. Instead of being intimidated by this culture shock, I embraced it and became motivated and deeply inspired by it. And then I had this download in a dream one night, I was told, “It does not matter where you come from, but you have to become reborn.” meaning, it does not matter where you are from, what your obstacles were, the unfortunte cards you may feel you were dealt; what matters is that you have to become reborn, you must shed that version of you and rise to become the divine image of God and his perfect will for you. To be the mask in which God hides behind in you. You are the physical manifestation of God.

We must remember that we stand in authority to denounce any versions of ourselves that are no longer of service to us. It is up to us to choose to rise in the face of challenge, to stay rooted in our divine self-image, and to remember that it is never about how we started but always about how we finish.