The Ice Plant Cometh

For two, maybe three weeks every year the freeway interchange by my house turns from plain green to splashy magenta. The ice plants are in bloom. Most of the year the plants are fat green leaves of ground cover with the purpose of keeping the soil in place so it doesn’t slide down into the road. But in the spring they explode. The flowers pop open each day for the sun so by afternoon the hill is a solid sheet of flaming pink. I love it. It makes me smile just to drive by. And I drive by daily.

If left to it’s own devices ice plant will cover far beyond where it takes root. It can be hard to get rid of. Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Let’s say it’s a good thing. Ice plants announce spring. These plants offer an intense display. You have to notice them. And if you don’t like them they are only flashy for two, may be three weeks out of the year. Now let’s say they are a bad thing. Maybe they have overtaken your yard. They have covered your piece of land. You can’t walk for stepping on them. You try to pull them up. When you miss a root they arrive the next spring sneaking in around the corners where you thought you had exterminated them. It’s all in your perspective. Is the ice plant a welcome surprise of color or a hideous enemy to plow under?

Let’s compare me to an ice plant. Am I welcome sight? Do I flash something colorful and welcoming? Or am I a bother to be ignored and turned away? I am thinking specifically of how I practice my faith. Am I intrusion? Do I yell and scream insisting all turn from their own opinions and use mine. Or do I grow where rooted and offer my flower? Some will view faith as an invasive plant, one that needs to be exterminated. Others see faith as an essential part of keeping the soil steady, thriving when the sands are shifting beneath. How about you? Is your faith essential or do you wonder if you even have any?

Me? I’m a quiet plant. I have my cycles of blooming and resting. I only explode with color for two, maybe three weeks out of the year. It’s hard to be on display too often. But the root of my faith stretch a little further each season. I don’t want to be a garish plant screaming for more space. I try to be a welcome sight, warm enough to enjoy and linger over.

Posted 4/22/2008 @ 12:17 PM | Weekly Thoughts