Drink Deep

Those little gems I wrote about last week – the carnations with flower heads sprouting frequently up the slender stalks: they’re still going strong. 

I’ve just been reflecting on the short life of a lovely young woman, Stari, who passed away just before Christmas. Her strong faith in Jesus lives on in the blog she left behind and in the comfort her assurance gave to those who loved her. Looking at pictures of her through her life, I noticed how like her mother she had grown in looks; a picture of her being cradled in her mum’s arms shortly after birth startled me into thinking just how short life is.

I’m still struggling to come out from the effects of this nasty virus, trying to overcome the pounding headache which seems to be its legacy. I look in the mirror and feel that I’ve aged almost beyond my own recognition! It’s amazing how fast it goes.

Peter wrote, quoting from the Old Testament, that ‘all people are like grass and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.’ 

Stari, a beautiful flower, fell before her time. Those of us who may live out a normal life span wither more slowly, less obviously perhaps, but we wither nevertheless. One day we will all fall, but how comforting and even exciting to know that as believers in Jesus we will join him and go on forever. 

Meanwhile, we want to accomplish all we are meant to do while we are blooming here on earth. I just noticed my little gems of carnations had sucked up most of the water in the vase, so I’ve filled it again with fresh, clear water. That should keep them perky and bright for awhile longer.

And while we are flowering here on earth, we need to ensure we suck up the nourishment provided by our heavenly Father through his word, which refreshes, restores, corrects and encourages us. That way, hopefully, the power and love of God will shine out through the weakness of a pounding headache – in the same way that the power and love of God shone out through the pain Stari suffered in her final illness.

I thank God for the encouragement and hope offered by this extraordinary young woman.

Little Gems

There’s a variety of lettuce sold here in Scotland called Little Gem – which seems an overblown claim for what is, after all, just a rather limp-leafed lettuce.

I’m sitting at the table looking at the vase of carnations Don brought me the other day. I’ve always loved carnations. We had red ones at our wedding. I suppose, though, over the years other flowers have edged carnations off the top spot in my estimation. Lilies are hard to beat. A fragrant rose from the garden – nothing compares. Tulips can be fabulous.

The carnations in front of me might be called floribunda – I don’t really know. But they aren’t the single giant floral head but instead, a composition of lines of delicate, thin leaves bordering short, delicate stems with one or two small carnation heads opening at the end. There are yellows, peaches, reds. A composition of colour; not a solo.

You might say these little gems are ordinary. They’re not spectacular. They don’t trumpet their beauty with a heady fragrance, nor spread their petals wide like one of my voluptuous roses. 

But in their own quiet, modest way, they are eloquent. They speak of love. They express beauty. They bring colour into a drab season. 

I suppose we all want to be like the 118-carat egg shaped diamond recently auctioned in Hong Kong for about $30 million. Someone to be admired, oohed and aahed over. 

But the reality is that such a sparkler needs to be locked up, insured heavily, and isn’t out there to be enjoyed. Much better to be a little gem, sparkling away, bringing colour and love and beauty into many drab seasons and situations. A little gem, not hogging the limelight but content to flower in a composition of colour and line, its very humility enhancing its beauty all the more.

God’s word challenges, “Who dares despise the day of small things?” (Zechariah 4:10) Small things have a lot to be commended for. 

Little gems are precious.