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.

Weeds in the Garden

I’ve heard it said that a weed is a plant or flower growing wherever it isn’t wanted. But we’ve had lots of beautiful plants over the years growing where they weren’t wanted. They weren’t weeds, so we moved them. 

Some survived. Some didn’t. The peony bloomed beautifully this year in its new location. The gooseberries keep producing fruit despite all lack of care and attention, having been moved from a fertile garden to what is essentially the grass verge.

There are a lot of ugly situations in this world, and sometimes in the midst of devastation a flower springs up. Look at the poppies on the WWI battlefields.

There are indeed true weeds, pernicious things like ground elder and nettles which can get hold and be a challenge to eradicate. They can get a stranglehold on genuine flowers and smother the tender plants you struggle to cultivate. They can leach nutrients from the soil and leave plants limp and withering.

Important to examine the inner garden of the heart, to check if any pernicious weeds have been allowed to take hold, to see if any fragrant flowers are in danger of withering for want of nurture. Good to do that with a Bible and time with the Lord. Good to do it with a prayer partner or a soul mate. Good to do it regularly, especially in a toxic climate.