worries in vain

There has recently been an unfortunate incident for my bean plants. It started with a quite small problem but led on to bigger things.

the creeper of my champion plant was growing really long and strong, though it did not find anything to cling onto. 2 other of the plants took advantage of it and creeped around champion's creeper. leaves sprouted out on the creepers and soon it became so heavy that champion's stem couldnt support it and leaned until the creeper touched the table. this was a problem cos it was in an awkward angle for receiving sunlight, plus it blocked some lower plants and leaves in its way from the light.

So i came out with a not so good idea to lift up the stem such that it stands upright. in the process, it injured champion's stem and did not work the way as planned. Then the weight of the creeper further pulled the weakened stem down and soon it sorta collapsed, so the top 3/4 of the plant was almost parallel to the ground. now it was crushing the lower plants and looked like a mess.

My next solution was to transfer the container of plants to a shelf with grills so that i can hang the creeper on it and make the stem upright at the same time. another 2 problems occured from this act. the plants which were entangled together got into a tangled mess when trying to shift the 2 containers. i had to manually untangle them, in the process injuring some even more and separating some that have been supporting each other.
then when i finally got the plants onto the shelf, i found the grill was too low. by forcing the plants into that insufficient space, creepers and branches were injured and another plant's stem snapped, ending up in the same position as champion.

now i was left with many injured plants, a state so much worse than initially, and no solution to the problem at all. bean plants are such delicate lifeforms. but maybe thats the beauty of it.

it seemed like a big disaster struck my dear plants, at a time where my fruits were due soon. If i were to lose them, my 2 months of hope, care and anticipation would been in vain.

i was really worried for them and half doubted their survival. i even dreamt twice during this period that they died.

I finally thought of a solution that worked, but it took me quite some hard work and thinking. i built a supportive structure made from 4 chopsticks and 4 toothpicks, cut and glued together. a number of improvisations had to be made. it successfully supported champion's creeper and held the whole plant approx upright.

on sunday i brought my worries to church and prayer-requested for my plant's healing. they thought it was a stupid request, but i find it very reasonable. bean plants are still creations of God, and living things that have a mutually beneficial relationship with humans.

Today, 5 days after the accident, all plants are surviving. champion has fully healed its stem and creeper, thanks to support from the structure. now the part where it was injured at the stem has a big growth there, makign it stronger than before and can now support the weight of the creeper - even without the strucutre. some branches had to fall off, but its ok, they can grow back. the other plant with broken stem is now taking support.

so in a way the prayers did come true. my plants did not die, champion was healed and made even stronger. and quite fast also... imagine recovering from a bone fracture in 5 days. i thank God for giving plants such a wonderful healing mechanism, which is so much better than animal's.