I was late getting flowers out this year. Because time and finances were allotted to other areas, I had to neglect that little luxury--but God is good, and He has turned that around, in the way He always does so well. Because summer school has ended and the rains have finally come, I have had time to get out and do some yard work, but I didn't have any flowers for my empty planters--and, I really wanted some flowers! Funny how something as simple as vibrant blooms can totally change the look of a scorched yard!
Yesterday, driving home from a workshop in Arkadelphia, I noticed this little hardware store with a huge sign out front, announcing their plants were on sale for 50% off! Right there . . . right there were my flowers, just waiting for me to bring them home and set them out in my barren planters, which I did promptly and purposefully. Finally! My front porch looks vibrant and alive.
This morning, reflecting on what just a few blooms will do to lighten perspective . . . The Lord used those blooms to speak to my heart. Simply enjoying the ease of His Presence, I marveled at the difference in me. Where did it come from? Is it a product of something I did . . . something I finally got right? Nope. Can't be me. Absolutely, without question, it is NOT a product of anything I did. Grace--unearned, can't be manufactured or created by me. He whispered a little metaphor to me to help me understand the difference between "doing" and "being."
Consider a rosebush growing in a desert. She wants to bloom, so she does everything she can to produce beautiful roses. She thinks all day long about what it takes to be a beautiful rose bush; she spends her energy and her focus preparing for beautiful blooms, learning all she can about beautiful blooms, working her roots trying to stir up the soil, straining as hard as she can to make rose buds appear--yet she remains a rosebush growing in a desert trying to make herself bloom.
Then the Master Gardener appears, and He touches her leaves and reminds her that she is a royal rosebush. All she has to do is be who she is and focus on what He does and who He is, not what she can or should be doing. He brings her living water and specially selected fertilizer. Then, with tender care and pruning, He begins to work on her. When she stops thinking so hard about being a rosebush and stops trying so hard to create her own blooms, she realizes that she can rest. She realizes that she enjoys what the Gardner does and that it is A GOOD THING to be a royal rosebush growing in a desert, with or without blooms. BUT . . . the more He works on her, the blossoms begin to appear. Such is the way of the Master Gardener.
Thank you, Jesus! Thank you for wearing a crown constructed of thorns from this rosebush so that she might bud roses that reflect YOUR GRACE AND BEAUTY!
The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.
Isaiah 35:1-2
Yesterday, driving home from a workshop in Arkadelphia, I noticed this little hardware store with a huge sign out front, announcing their plants were on sale for 50% off! Right there . . . right there were my flowers, just waiting for me to bring them home and set them out in my barren planters, which I did promptly and purposefully. Finally! My front porch looks vibrant and alive.
This morning, reflecting on what just a few blooms will do to lighten perspective . . . The Lord used those blooms to speak to my heart. Simply enjoying the ease of His Presence, I marveled at the difference in me. Where did it come from? Is it a product of something I did . . . something I finally got right? Nope. Can't be me. Absolutely, without question, it is NOT a product of anything I did. Grace--unearned, can't be manufactured or created by me. He whispered a little metaphor to me to help me understand the difference between "doing" and "being."
Consider a rosebush growing in a desert. She wants to bloom, so she does everything she can to produce beautiful roses. She thinks all day long about what it takes to be a beautiful rose bush; she spends her energy and her focus preparing for beautiful blooms, learning all she can about beautiful blooms, working her roots trying to stir up the soil, straining as hard as she can to make rose buds appear--yet she remains a rosebush growing in a desert trying to make herself bloom.
Then the Master Gardener appears, and He touches her leaves and reminds her that she is a royal rosebush. All she has to do is be who she is and focus on what He does and who He is, not what she can or should be doing. He brings her living water and specially selected fertilizer. Then, with tender care and pruning, He begins to work on her. When she stops thinking so hard about being a rosebush and stops trying so hard to create her own blooms, she realizes that she can rest. She realizes that she enjoys what the Gardner does and that it is A GOOD THING to be a royal rosebush growing in a desert, with or without blooms. BUT . . . the more He works on her, the blossoms begin to appear. Such is the way of the Master Gardener.
Thank you, Jesus! Thank you for wearing a crown constructed of thorns from this rosebush so that she might bud roses that reflect YOUR GRACE AND BEAUTY!
The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.
Isaiah 35:1-2
RSS Feed