Betty Thornbrough modestly insists she has no green thumb. The blooming display of orchids in her office at First United Methodist Church, however, begs to differ. More than 25 orchid plants have somehow found their way to her windowsills. The business office administrator isn’t quite sure how it became so many. The collection started with one brought to her by congregation member Ralph Null several years ago and multiplied after other members saw it flourish. One by one, others brought in orchids that were not prospering or that simply needed a new home, whether permanent or temporary.
“It’s a well-known First United Methodist legend that Betty’s office is where flowers come to live and thrive,” says Tony Proctor, executive associate pastor at FUMC. “This is just one of the many great things Betty does.”
The secret may be in the east-facing windows and diffused light filling the high-ceilinged office with pale walls, but the exotic flora reward everyone who passes through with a dazzling display of white, purple, pink and yellow blossoms when they are showing off. Currently, 15 of the plants are blossoming; 11 are “resting,” Thornbrough says.
“But look, this one is about to bloom,” she adds, pointing to the minuscule beginnings of a bud on one plant that has been dormant.
The botanical display defies the reputation orchids sometimes get as being difficult customers.
“I don’t really know anything about orchids,” says Thornbrough, who has never fertilized or repotted any of them. “I just put them on the windowsill because that was really the only place I have to put them. All I do — if I don’t forget — is give them a little drink of water on Fridays. And if I forget on Friday, they’re very forgiving.”
Proctor recalled a recent day when he walked through “an otherwise drab workroom” adjacent to Thornbrough’s office. Through the doorway he caught sight of the colorful blooms illuminated by natural light. It stopped him in his tracks. People are often seeking the “Mount Everest moments” in life, he says, when instead we should be more attuned to the many smaller moments of grace.
“I am grateful for the gift of that moment,” he says. “Somehow Betty’s orchids raised me up to see the world as more than plodding through to the next thing on the to-do list. It is moments of grace like this one that inspire me to keep believing that God loves me — and seeks the best for me. There are likely many who have experienced similar grace in her windows.”
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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