After a trip to God’s own Country, we came armed with spices and many condiments. One of them was a pod of turmeric to be planted in the ground, and so into a pot of well manured soil, went the little pod. Not much later, almost overnight, there was a small green shoot , which I watered and watched with avid interest .
The shoot grew into green leafy branches and was soon a fairly tall healthy plant. With no knowledge about growing turmeric, not wondering about what went on under the ground, I continued to water and nourish the plant. It stayed healthy and green, for some months, and then suddenly started drying and decaying. But that didn’t stop me from watering the plant .
Then one day, it just buckled, lost its strength and fell to the ground., but I still went on watering it. The dry leaves lay flat in the mud, surrounded by weeds and choked by thorns, but that didn’t stop me from continuing to water the plant. Today we decided to pull it out, uproot it, not really expecting anything, and found to our surprise, the roots held strong. Each end was a turmeric tuber, an amazing abundance of goodness .
Seeing the tenacity with which, the turmeric grew under the ground, not overcome by the weeds overhead that choked, or the dry plant above, but with the daily watering, it stayed nourished and healthy, I was reminded once again, about our faith in God . The Sunday school we attended, when we were young, the Word we learnt, when our mind was fertile, the enthusiasm we had for the stories of the Bible, rejoicing in the love of God .
Then came the time of adulthood, filled with its responsibilities and trials, when we were engaged in the pleasures of this world, and distanced ourselves from God . Our Spiritual life dried up, the weeds of worries and anxieties choked our faith but still we continued to visit church occasionally, to listen to sermons, though distractedly, and yet those words seep in, to nurture to keep alive the seed that was sown, when we were young .
I pray the Lord not take away from us, His Holy Spirit, but continue to nourish us, remind us and remain in us, to teach us, to guide us, even when we grow distant and dismal, even when we dry up spiritually, so that on the day we stand before Him, He will find in us an abounding goodness .
Mary Jacob 