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Tag: nature

Welcome the Ants

The peony has become one of my favorite flowers.
They start out kinda ugly.
Red stalks come out of the ground, and you wonder what will ever become of them.
Then, suddenly it seems, the red transforms to green and huge buds form.
One day, BOOM – the pink, white, or purple petals pop.
But the stunning petals stay tightly bound.
They need some help to open up.

Peonies remind me of my grandma Carol.
Bushes of the pink blooms swayed for years at the farm where she lived a season of her fragrant life.
In her late twenties, she already had raised her little brothers and was caring for her own husband and 5 kids on a shoestring budget.

She did not have an easy life.
I know she had deep joys and deep heartaches and I wish I could talk to her now.
If I could, I would ask her about how each trial she endured changed her.

You see, these pink peonies share similarities with my grandma.
These gorgeous blooms emit a sweet nectar that attracts ants.
Big, black, fearsome ants.
These ants barge their way in to harvest the nectar.
But when they do, they actually serve to open up the tight petals of the flower.
The ants make the flower more open, more vulnerable, more beautiful.

I think that’s what happened to my grandma.
She had many trials in life, and as unwelcome and fearsome as they may have been, they changed her.
They forced her to open up her guarded petals, to diffuse more of her Savior’s sweet scent to the world around her.
This was a continual process in her life, until her flower faded and drooped, bowed down and broken by ALS.
Such a short season.

Though I can’t talk to her about it now, it’s clear her time on earth gave much honor to God.
I love to hear people talk about her and how special she was to them.
Her life touched so many while she was here on earth.
I know she is bursting even more gloriously in the eternal garden.

So when trials and difficulties come barging into in my life,
Undesirable as they may seem,
I will remember the peonies.
I will remember my grandma.
I will remember my Savior.

And I will welcome the ants.

Growth Rates

His lessons are all around us.

I find out that when I unplug and look, I see and understand so much more of Him.

So lately, instead of putting earbuds in while I walk (even if I’m listening to sermons or worship music or whatever else that is uplifting),

I’ve just been watching.

And what I see makes my own lips praise Him.

On a recent walk, I noticed the trees.

Some of them still have baby leaves.

So tiny, they don’t give any shade yet.

Other trees already have fully developed leaves.

They’re light green and fresh, because they’re new, and they create a nice circle of shade under the tree (see picture!).

caption for image

These two trees are planted right next to each other.

They’ve had the same amount of sunshine, same amount of rain, same amount of wind, and yet their leaves look different.

That’s because they’re different trees.

I couldn’t tell you what kind of trees they are, but clearly they are different.

From the bark, to the girth of the tree, to the shape of the leaf,

you can see marked differences.

Aren’t people the same way?

We look at each other and compare ourselves to each other.

You seem to have it all together.

You’re doing such great things with your life.

But look at me.

There’s nothing going for me.

I have so far to go.

I’ll never catch up to you.

Or the converse:

Wow, what’s wrong with you?

You should really get it together.

You’re still messing up so often.

You’re so immature.

Both comparisons are incredibly damaging.

We look at each other and forget that we are different people.

We only see the outside, and forget about the inside.

We’re so busy looking around at each other, we don’t look up to the One who created us.

God has made us differently, and He works with us differently.

He knows our individual strengths and weaknesses.

What comfort to know that the Master Gardener is in charge of us.

He will monitor our growth, because He gives us the growth.

And He will prune and tend to each of us as we have need.

Instead of looking at others with despairing or disparaging eyes,

Let’s look up and thank our faithful, patient Father.

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

Philippians 1:6

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