My grandfather, Paul K. Heck, farmed almost his whole life. He was one who enjoyed working with livestock and crops. It was a very challenging and rewarding life for him. But as he got older, he started to slow down and decided it was time to turn the farm over to his son, Leroy, and his family. So at the age of 69, Grandpa and Grandma moved to town.
At that young age, though, Grandpa couldn’t just sit around and do nothing. Since Grandpa still had farming blood in his veins, he started to plant a good-sized garden every year and harvest it. In addition to the garden, he also started to raise a lot of house plants, mainly flowers. I must say, he really had a green thumb; his plants always flourished.
He had one plant that was totally unique. Where he got it from, I have no idea, but he had it for years. It was a crown of thorns plant, also referred to as a Christ plant. The one he had was the only one I’ve ever seen in my life.
Grandpa kept most of his house plants on the south side of his house, where there were a lot of windows to let in the sunshine. This was especially important for the plants in the wintertime so they could get enough sunshine. It was an ideal location for them.
The crown of thorns plant he kept in the corner, out of the way, so it wouldn’t get too much sunshine. I’ve been told that this plant is very difficult to grow. There are many things that can cause this plant to die, such as too much or too little sunshine and moisture. Also, the wrong type of soil and the wrong humidity will kill it. It was also a dangerous plant to have around, especially if children were in the house. He didn’t want anybody getting hurt on that plant. Grandpa knew how to take care of his plant. That plant just thrived.
He had it planted in a pot that was 12-15 inches in diameter. The plant with the pot included stood about 3 feet tall. Once in a while, it would get some pretty, little pinkish-red flowers on it.
I remember one time when I stopped in to see him, he was taking care of all his plants. I spotted his crown of thorns plant in the corner and knelt down to examine it. It was the most wicked bunch of canes with thorns that I had ever seen in my life. The thorns were 1-2 inches long and sharp as needles. The thorns were so thick you couldn’t find any place on a cane where you could even place one finger. I have seen many nasty, thorny plants in my woods over the years, but none of them compare with Grandpa’s plant when it comes to all the terrible thorns on it.
But Grandpa liked his unique plant. He came over to me and we started to talk about it. He told me it was a real challenge to take care of it. Every once in a while, he would prune the canes and then he would wrap them around each other going upwards. I think he had some sticks stuck in the pot for the canes to climb upward on. There were lots of canes, and he had them climbing in a circle about 18 inches in diameter up to about 3 feet tall. He did a fabulous job with it.
I asked him, “How do you do it with so many wicked thorns?” He replied, “I use extremely heavy leather fencing gloves, and even then I have to be really careful. It usually takes me two to three hours when I have to do a full pruning job on it.” By looking at the plant, I knew he was telling the truth.
Every year the week before Easter, Grandpa, along with his son, Armin, would take his plant to church and put it in the center up front. It was such a wicked, nasty plant that it took two men to handle it. They would take two long sticks of wood and put them under the lip of the pot to move it. They did it really slowly and carefully so nobody would get hurt. It always added a lot to services for that week. Virtually everybody would look at that plant and just shudder.
It’s almost impossible to comprehend the Roman soldiers taking a bunch of canes off of that plant and weaving them into a circle and pressing them down on Christ’s head. Yet, Jesus allowed it and went all the way to Calvary, where He was crucified on a cross. Why did He do it, you ask? Because He loved us so much that he wanted to redeem us back to our Heavenly Father.
After Easter Sunday, Grandpa would take his plant home for another year. The church would always put a big “Thank you” in the bulletin to him for bringing his crown of thorns plant to church and sharing it with everybody. I think he earned it.
In Grandpa’s latter years, when the plant got to be too much for him to take care of, he tried to give it away to anybody in the church who would take it. Absolutely nobody would take that plant with all its wicked thorns. I remember it was still in Grandpa’s house years later when he died.
Grandpa’s crown of thorns plant may be gone now, but my Savior who wore the thorns isn’t. Since I have repented of my sins and asked Him to come into my life and be my Lord and Savior, He lives in my heart today. That’s what makes life worth living for me. And I expect someday when I get to Heaven, I’ll see a crown of thorns plant there that will remind all of us of the great price Christ paid to redeem us back to God.
