{"id":38237,"date":"2020-04-03T18:29:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T18:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/woman-dismayed-to-learn-plant-she-tended-is-plastic\/"},"modified":"2020-04-03T18:29:00","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T18:29:00","slug":"woman-dismayed-to-learn-plant-she-tended-is-plastic","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/woman-dismayed-to-learn-plant-she-tended-is-plastic\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman Dismayed to Learn Plant She Tended is Plastic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Caelie Wilkes was proud of her little succulent plant. But just when she was ready to take the next step in caring for it, she realized her efforts were all for naught. Wilkes said, &ldquo;I was so proud of this plant. It was full, beautiful coloring, just an overall perfect plant &hellip; I had a watering plan for it, if someone else tried to water my succulent I would get so defensive because I just wanted to keep good care of it. I absolutely loved my succulent.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<p>When Wilkes decided it was ready to be transplanted into a larger vase, she was shocked to find that the plant was plastic. &ldquo;I put so much love into this plant! I washed its leaves. Tried my hardest to keep it looking it&rsquo;s best, and it&rsquo;s completely plastic! How did I not know this? I pull it from the container it&rsquo;s sitting on &#8230; Styrofoam with sand glued to the top!&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<p>Apparently, the plant&rsquo;s inability to soak up water never clued in Wilkes about the nature of her plant, because real succulents don&rsquo;t require much water. She&rsquo;s since replaced the plant with several real succulents, purchased at a local home improvement chain store.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\">Possible Preaching Angle:<\/h2>\n\n<p><em>Outward signs of success are not always accurate indicators of health. What is inside a person may not match the appearance. <\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[406,407,411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3360,3428,3446,3559,3790,3948,4024,4025,4104,4133,4251,4252,4550],"tax_ctp_topics":[387,395],"class_list":["post-38237","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-ability","tax_ctp_tags-appearance","tax_ctp_tags-assumptions","tax_ctp_tags-character","tax_ctp_tags-discernment","tax_ctp_tags-false-beliefs","tax_ctp_tags-fruit","tax_ctp_tags-fruitfulness","tax_ctp_tags-growth","tax_ctp_tags-heart","tax_ctp_tags-inner-man","tax_ctp_tags-inner-person","tax_ctp_tags-nurture"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Woman Dismayed to Learn Plant She Tended is Plastic - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/woman-dismayed-to-learn-plant-she-tended-is-plastic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Woman Dismayed to Learn Plant She Tended is Plastic - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Caelie Wilkes was proud of her little succulent plant. 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