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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rachel Redeemed

Good morning.

I have a chronic inability to keep anything more extravagant than a cactus alive! No matter how many reminders I set, I just can’t seem to remember to water my plants. However, it was a devastating realisation when one day I saw that I had neglected a beautiful orchid given to me by my mum in memory of our first child ‘Pax’ (his name means peace), who we lost to miscarriage. Reducing that orchid to a dry stick felt like a crushing reminder that I had also failed to keep Pax alive.

For months, the dead plant sat in a corner and I tried to ignore the spectre of its skeleton; but then a few days ago, I found something unbelievable… hidden behind the stick that filled me with guilt, I could see a stem. With actual buds on! This moved me to tears. I didn’t dare believe that in such bleak circumstances my orchid could ever grow again.

You may sense where this is going… no, I don’t have a baby in my arms, but I do believe in someone who went into the grave dead and came out alive - Jesus. I know that even if I give up on myself, God will not give up on me - there is always hope, because if Jesus came out of the grave, so can I. We might think our life is wrecked beyond repair, but I hold out my fragility to a God who can do so much more than I could ask or imagine.

All knowing God, please use our frailty and weakness, our brokenness and crushed spirits and bring new life where we feel hopeless. Show us how you are using our brokenness to bring healing to others.

Amen.

Details of help and support with pregnancy related issues are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline