The Sixth Leaf

Several years ago, when I took a position as youth minister at a local church, some of the sweet girls in the youth group gave me a plant for my desk. It was a money tree, they told me, and would nicely add a feminine touch to the bulky desk and cinder block walls of my office. That plant has been with me for nearly 6 years now, traveling with me from one job to another, from one house to another, and now sits at the window over my kitchen sink. It has grown and flourished, despite my propensity to kill plants with my negligence.

It has no flowers, but its blossoms (as I suppose you’d call them) come in bundles of 5 leaves. Every time, there are 5 leaves. For the past 6 years, it has produced 5 leaves every time it has budded anew. Every time….until last month. Last month, a blossom appeared with 6 leaves.

That was fascinating to me. A fluke? A mistake? How could that happen?

It is still there, growing larger every day. The sixth leaf. And as it has grown, it has taught me an important lesson.

The newest blossom is not like the others. It is decidedly different, having an extra (and very large) leaf. It stands out from the rest of the plant, but no – it is not a fluke or a mistake. God made that blossom the way it is, and He made it that way for a reason. It was made that way on purpose. I can’t imagine what that reason might be, but God had a reason for making it that way. Perhaps His reason was just to teach me something. Bear with me.

I am different, too, and have my own unique traits that make me stand out from the crowd. Those are not anything to be ashamed of or to dislike about myself. God made me the way I am on purpose. I need not hide or criticize myself but, like the bold sixth leaf, I can stand proudly in who I am. Learning that is a process, and I can’t promise the change will be instantaneous, but I, for one, am grateful for the sixth leaf and the lesson that it holds for me.

Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. (Isaiah 64:8)