Contrary to popular opinion, it does get cold in Florida once in a while. How cold? Depends upon where you are. In North Florida, where we lived for 43 years, temperatures dropped into the teens at least once a year. One year we hit single digits, but that is not common. I do remember a winter where we were below freezing every night for two weeks and the highs were in the forties. I remember freezes when I was a child that led to the southern shift of the Citrus Line—the line above which citrus could not grow. This is why the plants we grew in North Florida were not the same plants we grow here in Tampa.
The first winter we were back in Tampa we did not have a freeze. That same winter Lucas, who preaches in the panhandle about 30 miles this side of Pensacola, had 6 inches of snow, but we merely fell to the forties. This past winter we had a couple of freezes. We never even thought about the hibiscus. I was so used to plants that weathered cold weather that it slipped my mind entirely. That next morning I was horrified. All the leaves were completely dead, leaving bare, brown branches. My favorite bush was dead!
We looked up IFAS, the University of Florida's Agriculture page. Wait at least four weeks, it said, before you cut it back. If you cut it too early and another freeze occurs, the plant will suffer even more. What looks like dead plant can actually protect what might be left in the case of another freeze. You must wait several days or even weeks. That is what we have done. Meanwhile, we did have one more freeze, but we kept to the plan and waited.
What happened? Green growth all over the shrub is what happened. Tiny leaf buds are sprouting on roughly 65% of every limb. Every day the leaves grow larger and before another week I believe the growth will be visible from the street. We will once again have a beautiful tri-colored bush.
Being a parent is hard. You can work yourself to the bone, not just on physical care, but on spiritual teaching as well, only to see your precious child slip away into the world. Somehow others influence him more than you did, at least you presume so. Why else would he have left what you not only taught him, but lived in front of him?
Of course, the first answer is that he has his own free will. Part of realizing the falsity of predestination is also accepting that each person is responsible for his own decisions in life. And sometimes even the best of us makes a truly stupid decision. But I firmly believe that all is not lost.
Don't give up. Wait. Maybe a hard freeze has hit his soul and he has some damage, even some dieback. Wait. Carefully consider anything you say and do. You are supposed to water cold-damaged plants because their roots may be too damaged to function properly, and because cold weather is nearly always accompanied by low humidity. Water, but do not fertilize, they say. Maybe what that translates to is be there for him, but don't push too hard. You yourself know that his return must be his decision, not yours.
But dieback does not mean totally dead. With care, the plant can begin to come back from the damage. The old leaves and limbs must eventually be pruned, but no lower than the new growth. The roots of the plant are still there and sooner or later they will take over and send up a new, perhaps even more beautiful, plant.
What is our old saying? "Where there's life, there's hope." Don't give up on your precious child. Maybe, just maybe, the roots of your strong teaching during his childhood will once again blossom. But understand this: if you are still in that teaching phase, you must teach as if his life depends upon it—because that just might be true.
These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart.Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gatesDeut6:6-9.
Dene Ward
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