Hedera Helix

This is hedera helix. Looks and sounds exotic, right? Well it’s just common English ivy, the plant that many of us consider a pest, climbing up walls and trees. Mature plants flower in the autumn, providing a source of nectar for insects at a time when most other flowers are withered and gone. The Creator, in His wisdom, appointed some flowers to bloom early, such as dafs and croci, and some later, providing the bees with food for much of the year.

The ages and times of the apostles, reformers, puritans and revivalists are over. Yet the Lord will still provide food and light in the cold, dark times in which we live. Usually, He will provide for our wants through common-looking means, like the preacher’s rasp and the local church’s imperfect fellowship. Christ’s glorious body is in glory, but He uses His earthly body, the church, to fulfill His will on earth. Though we are plain, common folk (not many us noble or wise), may we be a source of eternal sweetness and nourishment to those around us, despite the increasingly chilly conditions in which we live.