Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40: 28-31
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13
My mom was a talented florist and gardener. I spent many an
hour watching her “green thumb” work its “magic” in our family’s flower shop
and her gardens at home. As I was growing up, I learned to appreciate and love
flowers by watching her plant, and tenderly care for, a large variety of
colorful annuals and perennials she nurtured each cool spring and hot summer.
I, too, love to plant flowers each spring but I find I’m not as nurturing as my
mom, especially as the summer grows hotter and hotter. So, I look for annuals
and perennials that don’t require much attention and can thrive through our
hot, and sometimes, very dry Nebraska summers.
One of my favorite annuals to plant, with these qualities, is moss rose.
Last May, I found some beautiful moss rose and planted them
in the sunniest parts of our front yard. As usual, and in the extreme heat and
drought of the summer, they flourished.
Not only did these plants flourish, several seeds mysteriously found
their way to a crack in the hot cement of our driveway. Even in this
inhospitable hot and arid place of the cement, they kept growing and growing
and reaching their bright and beautiful heads to the summer sun. To me, they
took on a quality of defiance, that against all odds, they were going to
survive. As I watched these plants continue to grow until the first frost, I
suddenly was struck by the message God was sharing with me through them. Their
tenacity told me that, even in the hardest and driest times of my life, if I
keep my focus on the Son, Jesus Christ, my Savior, and on God, the source of
all my strength, I can, and will, continue to thrive and flourish, as well.
The following summer, in that same crack in our driveway,
two moss rose plants once again thrived and flourished in the hot, summer sun
even though no new plants were added to our yard that previous spring. The
mystery and message of the moss rose continued.
Prayer: My Savior and my God, the source of all my
strength, I praise and thank you for the messages you send to me each and every
day in a variety of ways. May my eyes, ears, mind, heart and soul continually
be watchful of, and open to, the mysteries, messages and revelations of Your
Word in my life. Amen
Patty Niemann (reprinted from June 2013)
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