Greenhouses can be exotic places. Beautiful trees and plants from all around the world—even in the middle of winter!—teeming with blossoms, flowers and life. These “forcing houses,” as they are called across the ocean, are designed to pressure seeds and saplings into maturity. While conditions that are too hot, too sunny, too humid, or without attentive watering, pruning and fertilizing, can subvert the whole operation, generally, the adversity is good for growth, and literally fruitful. The next time, therefore, we complain about the conditions of our own lives—too intense, too much pressure, too many responsibilities, etc.—maybe we should pause and consider that the divine gardener only constructs circumstances for our human thriving and ultimate transformation. If only we would allow our roots to take hold, instead of holding back; if only we would trust the Lord, instead of thinking we know it all; if only we would face the heat, instead of running away, our spiritual seeds would sprout, our hearts would be made open, and we would finally grow up, and into the unique person we have been called to be all along. Ave Crux, Spes Unica
