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Not much, but some. Just putting toothpicks into the seeds and hanging them in the water wasn't enough to get plants. It takes time to wait for the mysterious process by which they germinate and sprout. It can be facilitated if one remembers which end of the seed is up, but I've sprouted them in both directions.
Occasionally I would wait and wait for a seed, even see it split open, but notice that the water in which it sat had an oily look and a rancid smell. That was a seed that had died. I've no idea why it died when its neighbors had not.
But it happened.
So many of the things we do in life do not result in what we expected or hoped for. Some years ago, I read about the complexity of the simplest of human biological processes, and at how many steps along the way something can go wrong. I was brought to the realization that it is not unusual for someone to be of ill health, even to have cancer. What is amazing is that many of us are free of these conditions. Human fertility is a similar mystery. So much can go wrong along the way to conception, and especially between that moment and birth, that it's a miracle any of are ever born!
I earn my living as a missionary, hoping to engender faith in people. Several times in the past century there have been movements to evangelize the entire world "in this generation" or "before the end of the century" or by some other date. The birth of faith is a mystery like the germination of an avocado seed. I hope that every avocado seed I start can grow into a tree. I desire that every person with whom I speak about Jesus Christ will become a believer; I know that the results might not be fruitful. Nevertheless, I keep starting those trees, and I keep sharing that gospel.
After an avocado seed grows roots and shoots in a glass of water, it needs to be put into some soil. Kaohsiung presents a problem in that area, for though it is an "other than clean" place, it is basically concrete and asphalt. There is precious little soil to go and dig up. I went up onto the roof of the building where we live and found some sand that had been left after someone did a plastering job, and other soil-like materials that had dropped out of the air. This I put into several pots and proceeded to "plant" my seeds.
They grew slowly. I guess there was little nourishment in the sand and whatnot into which I had placed them. Nothing else grew in that soil, not even weeds.
Environment matters. When we want someone to become a great symphony musician, we do not train him in a gangsta rap studio. When we want to develop a gangsta rapper, we do not put her in the cathedral choir. The seeds of the avocadoes I planted in that soil will never be great trees producing good fruit if I don't get them into a better environment. Once, when a different plant died from neglect I transplanted one of the struggling avocadoes into its pot, a larger one with soil that came with its previous inhabitant. The thing took off and left its nursery companions behind. Perhaps there is a lesson in this for the development of future musicians, social leaders, and people of faith.
An avocado is a delight. The broad leaves stick out at ninety- degree angles to the stem. So long as they were watered, my plants’ leaves had the strength to stand out and catch all the sunlight that came to them. But they didn't always have water. I put them in a location where there was plenty of light, but neglected to check them every day. Since they were just outside of my bedroom window, I could see them every morning and evening. Sometimes the leaves were nowhere near straight out from the stem. Sometimes they drooped so pitifully that I feared I'd killed the plant. If I was motivated by the sight of them in that condition, I would water them immediately. All too often, I put it off for "a more opportune time". But most often, I got to them eventually, and it was like a miracle. If the water was applied in the morning then by the afternoon they would be standing tall again. If it was watered in the evening the leaves would be ready for the sunlight the next day. I got to believing that water was all they needed.
Some things are so important to life that if we lack them we die. Our bodies may go on living, but that which is "personal" in us just takes a break. During October of 1997 in Taiwan, there was a case of a group of teenagers torturing and killing one of their acquaintances because she had stolen from one of them. The youths who committed these acts had no remorse and stated that the girl who died deserved her end. These people are as good as "dead" in terms of their ability to empathize with other people. Like the water that was denied to my avocadoes, something essential was denied to these young people early on. One wishes it was so simple as watering a plant back to health as to nourish a deprived person back to humanity.
My plants were out on the ledge where they got the afternoon sun. It was good for them. When I remembered to water them, they acted healthy. But there was a problem. They were not growing. I tried watering them more, but it only made more water run out of the bottom of the pots. One day I looked at them closely and felt the leaves. My hands came away dirty.
The same process of urban life that had deposited so much dust on the roof (which I used to fill up some pots), had put a thick film of grit onto the leaves of my plants. They were struggling to get light through a blanket of crud, and to breathe through congested openings. Therapy was needed. I took them one by one into the bathroom and turned the shower on them. A lot of dark stuff washed off the leaves and down the drain. They looked a lot better. And, in the next few weeks they put on a spurt of growth.
We all get coated with the grime of life. I'm not talking about the stuff we wash off with soap during daily (or weekly) baths, but the kind of stuff that adheres to us in a more spiritual or psychological sense. "Washing it off " is work! It requires getting out of the environment where we get coated, and away from responsibilities that just pile more things onto us. Regular retreats and vacations are imperative for people in urban areas. A book about Fiorello LaGuardia, onetime mayor of New York City, pointed to some of the mistakes he made, and noted that they were probably related to the fact that he hated to take vacations. The author opined that if LaGuardia had been like the people of his city and rested from time to time, he could have avoided some mistakes.
We need to get away from time to time, taking part in retreats as participants, not as part of leadership teams or task forces. Even Jesus got away for breaks. His taking advantage of time away gives us permission to take breaks, too.
Real estate speculators say there are three factors to the value of property: location, location, and location. The one I chose for my avocado trees turned out to be deficient. They grew very slowly, even after being washed. In part because I neglected to water them often enough and the afternoon sun was too bright. The trees were not growing. Previously I'd been willing to accept the blame. My desire was to "fix" them. On a shelf in the kitchen I found a can of chemical plant food that I had acquired some years previous. I figured to "feed my plants" and to do a really good job of it.
Hoping for a big improvement, for big plants, and for big things, I figured to give them a big meal. But I managed to overcome my eagerness for long enough to read the directions on the label. I was somewhat surprised. Into 10 liters of water I was to use only a few cubic centimeters of plant food, and then to water the plants normally with the mixture. The dilution had to fit the situation, lest harm result.
There's a story of a country parson who went to the church on a stormy winter Sunday. The only other person there was the sexton, whose job it was to light the fires to warm the church hall. When the time came for worship to begin there was nobody else. The parson asked the sexton what he thought should be done. The sexton (who also farmed part-time) replied that, even if no cows came in from the pasture at night, he still put out feed for them. So the pastor led and preached the entire service, just as if the congregation had arrived. When the sexton shook his hand as he went out the door, he said to the pastor, "Mind you, I wouldn't put out all the feed."
As we live with people, raise children, or teach anything to anyone, we need to pay attention to the dilution. Not everyone is ready for solid food. Milk may be just the thing we need some times.
Some of my avocado plants are large and are therefore planted in large pots. Others are smaller and occupy smaller pots. But one thing they all need is water. When I've neglected to water them, you might guess which ones suffer the worst. It’s not the large ones, but the small ones, which have a smaller amount of moist soil from which to draw moisture.
I'm told that among the scattered communities of Jews around the world there's one in Rangoon, Burma. They have a synagogue, a graveyard, and a small community of like-minded people, but they have little hope for a future. |
