He brought the small potted plant home from the grocery store at the start of summer and when it stopped blooming on the kitchen table I did what I don’t usually do and bought some rose food and planted it in the back yard.
The green leaves turned yellow but as the roots took hold they clung to the branches and before long a bud appeared. Then another! This was pretty exciting. A third was well on its way before the heavy snow hit this week and the bush got buried beneath. My heart sunk as I hurried out the door the next morning and passed it on my way to work.
The following day I stopped to scoop the snow off and discovered the two blooms holding their color but the new little bud was gone. On the third day I poured warm water with rose food mixed in over the frozen ground and discovered the branch with the bud that had fallen off beneath the weight of the strain and stress. Even though it was broken it hardly looked in the least bit fazed.
It’s sitting on my desk now in my grandmother’s vase and is reminding me, when we’re in the in the midst of a storm and need determination, to fight like a rose.
A rose is a rose is a rose
On and on with beauty it grows
From summer to fall, through winter to spring
From here to there, more beauty will bring.
For years to come that rose will bloom new gifts for you, Deb.
Long after the first bloom fades, the roots will grow
and keep the promise of new blooms. Thank you for sharing
that beautiful bloom.
Sarah
I never would have noticed that in a hundred years! Excellent observation Deb and thank you for sharing! Blessings.
Sarah, it will hold your words of promise within it.
Oh Bruce, that’s because you were busy shoveling the snow!
POWERFUL Deb!! Wow!! I Love the message that the Lord planted in your heart as you did what you don’t normally do…
“I did what I don’t usually do and bought some rose food and planted it in the back yard.”
What I particularly love about this message is the many nuggets that the Lord sprinkled along the way, even to me in Dublin Ga. As I read this message I saw how the Lord stepped into your current reality and caused a stir in your heart and spirit to “STEP OUT OF THE NORM,” helping you and ME to see that He has so much more for us. Much of this “more” will require us to follow the Father and leave the familiar. This “more,” that God has will require us to leave the humdrum of life and the way we’ve lived it in order to experience His green pastures and still waters.
The “more,” that the Lord has for us, will come with growing pains.SHOOT, it’ll even come with stretching and sometimes even loneliness and isolation, but as it was with this small, little, tiny, itty-bitty potted plant, the Lord will cause our roots to be established in Him, and before we know it, our purpose in Christ will blossom. You described this process well…..
“The green leaves turned yellow but as the roots took hold they clung to the branches and before long a bud appeared. Then another!”
Not wanting to drag this comment out any longer, so I exit with this amazing passage of a man who followed the Lord from the familiar to the unfamiliar….AND WE KNOW THE REST OF HIS STORY, actually we’re the offspring of it…Blessing always follow our obedience….
“Now the Lord had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
2 I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And YOU SHALL BE A BLESSING….Genesis 12:1-2
Oh my goodness, Anthony, you don’t know how much my heart needed to hear this. Blessings back my friend. May they overflow. D
This message blessed me beyond measure! God knows exactly what we need, when we need it, and SHOOT, how to get it to us!!
You are the rose, dearest Deb! You fight with truth, beauty, dignity and love! I love you. <3