I keep telling people that I want to be a crazy plant lady. I want all the plants-indoor and outdoor. I recently attempted to propagate a rose. I say attempted because it was from a stem out of a floral bouquet which is harder to root. So of course I had to Google and read everything there was to know about successfully rooting a rose from a cutting.
One of the most important steps is to scar or wound the bottom inch of the cutting. Producing roots is part of a wound response. So to encourage the cutting to start growing roots, you need to slice into the skin before putting it in soil.
Have you been wounded before? Do you have emotional scars from something in your past?
Romans 5:3-4 says
“And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope.”
Romans 5:3-4 CSB
Just like with the rose clipping, when we are afflicted or wounded it’s to encourage us to produce. Paul says afflictions produce endurance and endurance produces character. When you stick that wounded rose down into soil, for several weeks you just wait; you don’t know if it’s dying in there or if it decided to produce roots. Being hurt by someone is never fun, but if we don’t grow from it, the only other option is to die. And emotionally or spiritually dying doesn’t hurt the one who wounded us, it only affects us.
If we decide to put new roots out and grow, we will no longer be what we were. The single rose stem when rooted and planted turns into a bush with many branches that produces many flowers. Sometimes what we experience pushes us into a more fruitful future….but only if we grow. If we stay in self-pity and doubt we will never produce a beautiful new flower.
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