crème de la crème

Flowers make me so happy inside. Something about knowing that I can keep something alive that is so beautiful just makes me feel good. Since this is my first year in my own apartment I had bought a flower pot at the end of last summer. My one flower pot has quickly multiplied into 3 flower pots! So a few weeks ago I decided that I needed to go and buy some new flowers for my pots. I bought some yellow daffodils for the bigger pot and yellow, red, and red/white tulips for the smaller pot. So far the daffodils and yellow and red tulips have been blooming. They are so very pretty. Unfortunately the red/white one hasn't bloomed yet, but I am still waiting patiently for it.

My third pot already had a plant in it that my grandma gave me at the beginning of the fall. During the winter I kept it indoors so it would survive. It wasn't looking too great so this afternoon I trimmed away all the dead stuff and was left with 2 sprigs still alive. So I dug out those sprigs, root and all, and I re-potted them with fresh soil.

I also have 3 small vases that have bulbs in them that will eventually bloom into crocus' (Jeanne d'Arc, Pickwick, and Remembrance). My grandma also bought those for me back in November. I have done everything I can do to make those bloom. I have "forced the bulbs" as it is called by keeping them in a cold temperature. I've kept the water line at the level the box says. FINALLY, yesterday I noticed that on one of them a shoot is springing up.

I couldn't help but think of all of my flowers being such excellent metaphors of Christ's love for us. While I am no gardener and definitely no god, I love my flowers each and every one and I want so badly for all of them to grow into beautiful plants. With the tulips and daffodils there are people that immediately understand God's love and bloom and grow. They reap God's many blessings and have a marvelous life. Then there are those like the indoor plant. They live the early part of their born-again life in full bloom, but after a while they slow down and start dying. Like I did with my plant by bringing it indoors and trying to bring it back to health, God does with those people. He may have to re-pot them and give them fresh soil, and even that may never bring them back, but he still loves them.

Finally with the bulbs in the vases there are those people who never understand God's love. He tries and tries and yet they do not bloom. I did everything that the instructions say and God does everything he can to get to us, and yet they refuse to bloom. Like I am with the one that is now finally blooming, he delights in their final acceptance. He opens his arms wide and says "my child, welcome to your life of abundance, I've been waiting for you."

My flowers are a joy in my life and I love to see their daily blessings. I can't help but think of the beauty of God in his wonderful creation.

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