Be Like a Flower

One morning during vacation, I was sitting in a garden for some quiet moments before a busy day of sight-seeing. Seeing roses and other sweet blossoms there, I turned to the Gospel of Matthew to read Jesus words, “Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?” (Matthew 6:28-30) Jesus was telling me too, “Be like a flower—don’t be anxious, have confidence in God, He cares for you.”

I continued to read in the next chapter Jesus’ warning about judging others. “Be like a flower—bloom where I’ve put you, don’t worry about other people, give of yourself even if others don’t do the same.”

Then Jesus talked about plants bearing the fruit (flowers) that were theirs by nature. “Be like a flower—don’t try to be something you are not, I’m waiting to see if what you produce is like Me!”

In the parallel passages of Luke, Jesus taught about giving and loving indiscriminately, friend and “enemy” alike. “Be like a flower—give and love freely, look for your reward to come from Me.” Yes, the Scripture teaches that my gift will be returned to me, “pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into [my] lap,” but that does not necessarily mean my actions will be compensated similarly and by the very person to whom I gave. (See Luke 6:38)

I remember a poem from some long-ago literature class, a selection by Kahil Gibran from “The Prophet.”

Giving

You give but little when you give of your possessions.

It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard
for fear you may need them tomorrow?

. . .There are those who give little of the much
which they have - and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome.

And there are those who have little and give it all.

These are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and
their coffer is never empty.

There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.

And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is
their baptism.

And there are those who give and know not pain in giving,
nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue;

They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its
fragrance into space.

Through the hands of such as these God speaks, and from
behind their eyes He smiles upon the earth.

Be like a flower!

MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. United States of America. All rights reserved.

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com