Lately I’ve been keeping my hands in my pockets more than usual.  It’s because of the black stuff called dirt under my fingernails.  My hands look like this quite often here in Florida.  Maybe yours do, too, if you belong to the enthusiastic club of backyard horticulturists.  It doesn’t matter whether you’re into growing flowers or vegetables; dirt under the nails is your badge of membership.  I don’t feel comfortable wearing garden gloves.  For me, there’s something therapeutic about warm earth on my fingers.  And it’s too easy for me to damage a tender shoot that I can’t feel through a layer of cloth.

You say you’d like to grow things, but you live in an apartment on the sixteenth floor?  Not to worry.  You can set yourself up with dish gardens and grow boxes.  With a little care (and a grow light or two), certain plants, flowers, herbs, and even small fruit trees will flourish just about anywhere.  I once had nearly 100 African violets on extended window ledges, filing cabinets, and desks in my office downtown.  By the way, I grew some of those violets from seeds, which shows how serious a gardener I am.

Whether you have a vegetable garden, a flower garden, or grow simple house plants, you learn quickly that plants want to grow but need certain help on your part.  They require the right amount of light, moisture, and fertilizer.

Some may be thinking, “I like plants and flowers, but they’re too much trouble.  My apartment is dark, and I always forget to water them.”  Again, not to worry.  These days you can buy silk plants and flowers so lifelike that you can’t tell them from the real thing.  So you are not required to have a green thumb (or dirt under your fingernails) after all.  All you need is a little “green” of another kind and you can buy what you want, then sit back and relax.

Personally, I have no problem with artificial or silk plants and flowers.  As a matter of fact, we have many in our house, and we live in Florida, of all places.  But there is a problem if we carry this artificial philosophy into our relationships with other people and especially with God.  While artificial is OK for plants, it is not OK for relationships.  Relationships, like living plants, need nurture and care.

Is there such a thing as artificial people with artificial relationships?  The Bible talks about this very thing and describes these artificial people as “having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof” (2 Timothy 3:5).  In other words, these people look the part, they might even act the part, but they aren’t real or genuine from the heart.  They are artificial people.  Other words to describe this condition are fake, insincere, false, put-on, pretend, unnatural, and hollow.  Another word we could use is hypocrite—pretending to be what one is not.  An artificial orchid might fill the decorating bill.  But being an artificial mate, parent, or friend is definitely not the way to go.

God is not into the artificial, He is into the real.  He said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).   He means life as in alive, real, sincere, true, natural, and genuine.  Isn’t that what we’re really after?

As you read this, you may be thinking, “That’s me, I am into the artificial in my relationships.  What can I do?”

There is really good news for you, because God is also the Great Creator.  He can take a hollow, artificial life and make it real.  We simply have to give our life to Him.  We say to Him, “Here, God, take my empty, insincere life and make it real and alive.  Help me to grow every day.  Shine on me.  Water me with Your Spirit, and fertilize me with Your Word.”

A well-to-do couple spent several days vacationing at the seaside.  They had a lovely time together, but on the last day they couldn’t agree on what to do.  The wife wanted to go shopping for souvenirs, but the husband wanted to go swimming.  In the end, they decided to go their separate ways.

When the wife returned from her shopping, she walked down to the beach to see how her husband was enjoying his swim.  As she neared the water’s edge, she saw a crowd of people standing over a person lying on the sand.  In a panic, she pushed her way through the onlookers and saw someone blowing into her husband’s mouth

“That’s my husband,” she shrieked.  “What are you doing to him?”

“Lady,” was the reply, “your husband almost drowned.  We’re giving him artificial respiration.”

Pulling herself up to her full height, the lady replied with great dignity, “We’re rich—give him the real thing.”

Our God is rich.  How rich?  “Every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills” (Psalm 50:10).  And He’s real.  How real?  “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

He is willing to take the most artificial, hollow life and make it real.  What are you waiting for?  It’s time to start growing.  It’s time to get real.