Blooming Beautiful

I love the roses that grow so well, right outside the windows of the conservatory. I don’t prune them back too far, so that their long stems and blooms rise above the window sill and I can enjoy them from inside.

I love it when I see the buds forming, lots of them in response to a good feed, and anticipate the lovely, fragrant blooms they are going to be.

And then, sometimes – this being Scotland, the rains and winds come and play havoc with the buds. They bash them around and water accumulates on the unopened blooms, where it sits and rots the buds into brown cocoons which die off. Unrealised potential. Sad.

To God, we are each a rose bud. Full of promise, beauty and fragrance. Joy. Peace. Hope. He loves each bud, and has plans, good plans, for every one of us. Some of us endure stronger winds, wilder rains than we should, though, when we are at a tender age, and our spirits can wither within. But they don’t drop off, and the tender touch of our Lord can love these stunted buds into Life, and ‘make up for the years the locust has eaten’. 

Praying today for all whose starts in life were traumatic, loveless and sad. Praying that the whisper of the Spirit would encourage and fill all with hope, and would confirm that by the only one who really counts, they are loved.