In the latest issue of The Nature Conservancy’s member magazine, there is an excellent article on orchids by Jenny Rogers. One paragraph in the piece astounded me. And what it reveals, I believe, is a metaphor for our Christian faith-life.
First, let me share a paragraph that will give some context about orchids:
With an estimate of at least 25,000 species in existence, and new species being discovered regularly, orchids are believed to be the world’s most diverse family of flowering plants. They outnumber all mammals, reptiles and birds combined. And scientists estimate they account for about 10% of all flowering plant life on Earth.
Please read the article to learn more about them and about the efforts being made to understand and protect them.
And here is the eye-widening, heart-opening paragraph:
Orchids begin life as seeds so minute they can only be seen under a microscope. They do not contain any stored food to fuel their growth. Instead, when seeds land in soil or on trees, they rely on a suite of host fungi nearby to supply the nutrients and other resources they require.
In other words, orchid seeds literally cannot begin growing into a plant without another life form – a fungus – being on hand to nourish them.
Eastern prairie white-fringed orchid (courtesy of Forest Preserve District of DuPage County)
We are, of course, accustomed to thinking of small seeds and faith from Matthew 17:20. There Jesus speaks of a person with faith as diminutive in size as a mustard seed being able to move mountains. We also read in Matthew 13:31-32 of a man planting a mustard seed in a garden. Despite the seed’s small size, it grows into a large plant that birds can even find shelter in. Jesus presents the planting of the tiny seed as a parable about the kingdom of heaven.
Thinking of our faith as an orchid seed can inspire us and give us insight in three ways:
Discipleship is like being an orchid seed: In Luke 9:2-3, we read of the disciples being sent out to tell people of the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. Jesus told them: “Take nothing for your journey,” he instructed them. “Don’t take a walking stick, a traveler’s bag, food, money, or even a change of clothes.” How often do we sense a calling from God but feel that we first need some stored resources in place before taking that initiative?
Jesus taught a radical trust in Him. He also taught a radical dependence on the “fungal network” of God’s work in the hearts of others. In fact, presenting need to others can actually move their hearts. Are you and I, individually and collectively, willing to bet our lives on this? And, conversely, are you and I, individually and collectively, part of networks of people responding to people living out their faith in radical, selfless ways?
We should be.
Embrace dependence and assistance: American culture is so full of the drive to be independent through wealth and technology. We want to move beyond ever needing help from others, especially in urban areas. We can even find ourselves looking down on others who need help.
A Christian faith like an orchid seed would help us move past all that. We are most truly in the image of God, a triune God of interdependence and interrelationship, when we are able to be dependent and respond to the dependent needs of others. You will need to be an orchid seed in your creative life of faith at times. You will need to be part of a supporting fungal network in your loving life of faith at other times.
The life of Creation is like an orchid seed: We increasingly dominate every element of how the world functions and what it looks like. When anything from an orchid seed and a baby dolphin to a sandhill crane colt or a piglet enters this world, we determine whether those elements of God’s Creation find sustenance, habitat, and conditions suitable for their ability to live the way they are meant to live.
Or not.
In fact, orchids, like many other species, are struggling to survive in the world we are making.
My friend Kathleen Marie Garness stewards two local natural area and specializes in botanical illustrations of orchids. She writes this: “… our elusive and disappearing native orchids highlight the close and subtle interrelationships within the natural world. Because orchids are so sensitive to their environment they have much to teach us about living in harmony with nature.”
Do we recognize that dependence? Will we recognize that tenousness of life, of God’s life? Will we exercise a faith like an orchid seed to act for life that cannot reward us in tangible ways? Will we trust that others of faith and even those without the faith we hold will respond to our efforts? Are we ready to change the dominant Christian model of dominion into something that reflects a true love of God and a love of our neighbors?
May our faith-lives be as beautiful as orchids and as humbly valuable and sustaining as fungi.
