Theme for the week: Lessons from Roses
February 14, 2022 (Monday)
My Daughter, Dianna, married Mark Hinze on Valentine’s Day in 1987. Our Florist was a sweet lady who helped me with many church weddings, so I was surprised when I inquired about flowers for the wedding on Valentine’s Day. She told me that Valentine’s Day was already the busiest day of the year for her. Providing flowers, etc, for the wedding would not be possible. That was almost 35 years ago, but I assume that flowers are still among the most popular Valentine gifts today.
The subject of “flowers” is huge. Wanda, my wife, enjoyed growing flowers. She planted and nurtured them in flower beds and flower pots. My thesis for the blogs this week is that people can be compared to flowers.
Some folks are like Dandelions. Dandelions help grass grow, can be eaten, are full of vitamins, and used as medicine by many. Do you know any folks that resemble Dandelions by helping others in many ways, often without notice and almost never praised. But always on the job, doing their part.
A few people are like the Venus Fly Trap. The Venus Fly Trap is a carnivorous plant. To the fly it looks inviting, perhaps a snack, but contact with it causes the leaves to shut like jaws and traps the bug, digesting it in a few days. People who are like the fly trap are the con artists of our day, eager daily to offer unsuspecting victims a prize, instead tricking people into giving up their savings.
Many people behave like wildflowers. Dolly Parton has a song about wildflowers. She sings, “Wildflowers don’t care where they grow.” When spring arrives please notice the wildflowers that grow beside the road. Many kinds grow together, providing a colorful and exciting scene. People can be like the wildflowers, sharing themselves. The awesome sight of beautiful flowers remind us of lovely people who are carefree and loving, always willing to add happiness to our days.
Other flowers require daily care. The song, “To Each His Own,” begins by declaring, “A rose must remain with the sun and the rain or its lovely promise won’t come true.” Roses are beautiful, but they require nurture. Most of us are like that, I think. We are ready to bless others, but we require nurture in order to keep performing that role.
There are thousands of species of flowers in this old world of ours. People have preferences among them, but it seems to me that almost everyone loves roses. The blogs this week will be about roses that teach us lessons of life and inspire us as we are blessed by them.
Roses are beautiful, aromatic, delightful, and unique. Those four qualities will be discussed in the four blogs Tuesday through Friday.
In the meantime, why not take the time to thank the Lord for people who remind you of roses? Think about the people you know. What kind of flower is he? Or she? Are they like roses? In what way?
Think about it.
MIGHTY LIKE A ROSE
Authors, Ethelbert Nevin and Frank Stanton
1903
Sweetest little fellow, everybody knows;
Don’t know what to call him but he’s mighty like a rose!
Looking at his mammy with eyes so shiny blue,
Makes you think that heaven is coming close to you.
When he’s there a-sleeping in his little place,
Think I see the angels looking thro’ the lace.
When the dark is falling, when the shadows creep,
Then they come on tip-toe s to kiss him in his sleep.
Sweetest little fellow, everybody knows,
Don’t know what to call him but he’s mighty like a rose!
Looking at his mammy with eyes so shiny blue,
Makes you think that heaven is coming close to you
When the dark is falling, when the shadows creep,
Then they come on tip-toe s to kiss him in his sleep.
Sweetest little fellow, everybody knows;
Don’t know what to call him but he’s mighty like a rose!
Sweetest little fellow, everybody knows,
Don’t know what to call him but he’s mighty like a rose!
Looking at his mammy with eyes so shiny blue,
Makes you think that heaven is coming close to you.