M2M News & Articles
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Tenacious Little Fellow
October 27, 2018Tenacious Little Fellow
Written: March 01, 2013
At our first M2M Event 2009, the Lord gave us a theme that ran throughout the event. It was "a tenacious little fellow called the Pitcher Plant".Tenacious def.:holding fast; characterized by keeping a firm hold, a tenacious grip on my arm; pertinacious, persistent, stubborn, or obstinate. holding together; cohesive; not easily pulled asunder; tough.
The missionary has a lot in common with the pitcher plant. They too, like the pitcher plant, represent a flexibility and tenacity that is necessary to persevere in their call to the mission field.
The pitcher plant (sarracenia purpurea) is a unique and hardy plant found on bogs and marshes throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. This little plant, with wine and green-coloured flowers, survives on insects collected in its tubular leaves. While other plants find nutrients to survive in the soil, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, the pitcher plant has adapted to an environment deficient in these vital nutrients by finding an alternate source. Its leaves and structure are expertly formed to survive, and regardless of its conditions, the pitcher plant remains intensely resilient, infinitely adaptable, and naturally and remarkably beautiful.The significance of the pitcher plant strongly characterizes missionaries.
The pitcher plant is a symbol that not only represents Newfoundland and Labrador’s natural beauty, humanity, and strength of our collective character but also represents the missionary who survives in the most difficult of circumstances. The pitcher plant has adapted to this place over generations, survived everything the world has thrown at it, and thrived. It’s a symbol of the missionaries' creativity, of a way of looking at things differently, and believing that there really is no place on earth quite like the home the Lord has chosen for the missionary. Simple and amazing, possessing a fierce determination, and standing proud in both sun and storm, it is a symbol of who the missionary is, and what they’re made of. Like the pitcher plant, the missionary is always growing, head to the wind.
The pitcher plant is a symbol that reflects who the missionary is and what they stand for. It is a symbol that speaks our language, and is as unique as the people who answer to their God-given call, in every corner of the world, including Newfoundland and Labrador. In 1954, the Newfoundland Government designated this unusual and interesting plant as the official flower of the province.
