Hello, fellow pilgrims. Most of you know that I adore flowers of all varieties, from the tiniest and almost imperceptible blooms like the flowers of grapes (have you ever seen a grape vine in bloom?!) to the most extravagant in-your-face, saucer-sized dahlias. They are beautiful, diverse, and quite hardy. I love watching their growth and what they mean to the environments around them, both wild and cultivated.
I have a rose bush in my garden that is my favorite to observe in this way. It blooms a deep orange color as captivating as a sunset in your favorite spot. And it fades to a soft pink as gentle as a warm hug from someone you love. Amid this transformation, it experiences the gifts and challenges of time and all sorts of weather. I admire this rose every day for the similarities I see between its struggle and our struggle as humans in this beautiful and ever-changing world. Our struggles to see our selves as God made us, beautiful and beloved, even on our worst days. How we grow and change through our own experiences. How we sometimes grow thorns to protect ourselves from harm and offer our most precious gifts to this world—like the fragrance of faith, hope, and love, or the beauty of presence and companionship. We, too, fade like the rose, but not into oblivion; into a new life of rest and nourishment and transformation. The rose will return with new blooms and new energy after a winter’s rest, ready to continue its life of gifts and challenges and beauty. Why shan’t we—through our own seasons as humans and as Christians? Why shan’t we?
You are Beautiful and you are Beloved—a rose in God’s garden.
Angela+
P.S. – I’ve included an image of a grape vine in bloom, so you don’t have to search the internet for it if you don’t want to. Cool stuff!
