The Rose and the Spirit
All the promises of the Lord are with you daily; like a myriad of unseen Roses that have budded, yet beyond the eyes of so many who would see. How such beauty can come forth in yet such a silence…one would think a fanfare would be the entrance of such beauty, but not so the Rose. And too, the beauty of all that is brought forth of God. The greatest of beauties brought forth in such calm and in such solitude and void of fanfare. First it is a seed and is indistinguishable from many other seeds. How could one know what is in a seed? Is it a seed of beauty or a seed of some thorn bush? It starts in silence and it starts in solitude and complete darkness… under the earth and seemingly away from all that might seem to be life at all. Then… something begins. There is moisture and there is a stirring within the seed. Something is coming forth and there is “Knowingness” about it, but… as to what that is… it cannot be perceived… only that something is being brought forth. There is a nurturing that one cannot deny. There is some force behind this life that is coming forth. It is not by chance, but it is by design. Then…early one morning it stretches forth – reaching with all the life that is in it, but… for what… for what is it reaching? Even the Rose does not know. It only knows it must reach… and it knows it must reach with everything that is in it, and so it does. And with all the strength and life that is in it, it stretches upward… then suddenly the unexpected and indescribable explosion of glory as it pushes through the upper layers of the earth to behold, for the first time, the glory and warmth and total embrace of the Sun as it becomes wrapped up in its’ Love. Now,… now…now there is reason and purpose – to seek this light and this warmth and this Love and to become what it was meant to become – a ROSE… now so defined as it comes into the sun as it was never defined while all the time hidden beneath the Earth. Now it is clear and it is defined - the purpose of this beauty – to simply be what it was created to be and to exist and dwell in the light of the Sun and to partake of fresh waters and to bring blessing and joy to all who shall behold it. Though it may last but a little while and have a life that is short – yet the memory of such beauty can never be erased and Eternity will forever hold the memory of its existence and its beauty will last for eternity. So, like the Rose, we have first the bud of hope, then hope turns to faith, with faith comes Love. Through the warm touch of Jesus Christ we reach full bloom.
We are all like a Rose in the seed. We don’t know what we are or what we can become. We are not even aware there is a design at work in our life, but at some point we feel the moving of life upon our souls. Something is at work and something is calling that life forth. And how can we call that something, “Something” - to bring forth such beauty in our lives and NOT call it God? He sees us before we know He is even looking; or even interested, but He is at work to bring forth beauty in His creations as is, and has always been, His will and His Design. He waters us with His Holy Spirit, before we even know there is a Holy Spirit and He works, nurturingly to cause us to be birthed and we too, at the right time, feel the need to stretch and reach out with everything that is in us, not even knowing what we are stretching out for, but when we break forth through the layers of the earth that have so covered us, then we come into the Light of the Son and we then feel that warmth and that Love and we know that we are being brought forth in blessing and to be a blessing to all around. If God should have such care and such beauty of design for what is a Rose – how infinitely more must be the design and the beauty He intends to bring forth in those He chooses to call His children? The Glory that is in store for us cannot be perceived or even written about in any fullness of words and the Rose is but a small clue to the Design and Glory that God has intended upon His children.
With His Holy Spirit inside us to guide our way, we find that, through obedience, all of His promises are ours every day. The Promise of Heaven is in your reach, so reach out and touch the hand of the Lord and the Lord will guide you on your way. Then, as the Rose, when your time is through the perfected beauty of your Spirit will shine throughout Eternity as well.