
I have a crocheted cactus in my office since I am not the best at keeping plants alive. I am so bad, apparently, that I require a fake version of one of the easiest plants to care for! I point this out because we often try to make the care of our “potted plant” of faith as easy as possible.
Is there some way that we can “put it on a shelf” and forget it? That may be our wish. But the reality is that our calling as Christians is to be always involved in the care and nurture of our faith that it might grow and flourish. Faith is never stagnant or immovable or fake. It does not stop growing when we are confirmed or become an adult or a parent or retire. Faith is always something for us to be engaged in and be attentive to. St. Paul tells us why growing in our faith is so important:
We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring. 2 Thessalonians 1:3-4
A growing faith helps us to grow closer to one another in love, allows us to boldly witness to the world around us about the power of Christ in our lives even in hard times and causes us to draw closer to our Savior in the process—all good things to make us thrive as plantings of the Lord. Grow on, my faithful friends.