Patience While You Bloom

What's the worst part about planting a flower? Waiting for it to grow. Now this can be an analogy for many different parts of our lives, but let's look at two. The first analogy I see here is the patience you need during a situation. God uses various trials in our lives to help us grow, even if we don't see it at the time. Just like roses have to withstand through sometimes horrible weather, we have to withstand trials in our lives. Trials? For our good? Yes. At the end of the day, the trial you are going through is making you stronger. When you wake up in the morning and nothing seems to go your way, tell yourself that everything you're going through whether big or small, is in some shape or form making you stronger. The fight you got in with your parents, spouse, and/or sibling when you spoke before you thought? Well that just taught you to be quicker to hear, slower to speak, and slower to anger (James 1:19). The test you spent hours studying for might have just given you an "A". The girls at school who you think look way prettier than you taught you to rely on God more to realize that outward beauty is no match against inner beauty. All things, whether big or small, carry potential for you to rely on God and learn something from the situation. Put everything you go through together and what do you get? A girl (or guy) who is blossoming for the Lord. "A woman [or man] becomes a woman [or man] when she/he becomes what God wants her/him to be!" Point-blank: "The Lord is good to those who wait for Him" (Lamentations 3:25). Wait through that trial, whether it be as big as a death in the family or as small as a bad hair day. God is using it for your good and for his glory in the very moments you think your rose is starting to die. When you think you can't handle the bad weather any longer, a rainbow appears and blooming unfolds. God knows everything about you; your past, present, AND future. He loves you enough to give you the best, so just be patient to receive that happiness and sense of relief you have been longing for. James 1:2-4 says, "Dear brothers [and sisters], is your life full of difficulties and temptations? Then be happy, for when the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow. So let it grow, and don't try to squirm out of your problems. For when your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete."

Blooming? How Do I Do That?

Now that we know how to keep from damaging our rose , we should talk about how to BLOOM. Blooming is very important in the life of a rose. Roses are known for their extravagant beauty, but without blooming they aren't really noteworthy. A man doesn't give a woman a bouquet of roses that hasn't bloomed. He gives her roses that have already bloomed and carry much beauty. Likewise, God wants to see us bloom, but he isn't referring to outward beauty. 1 Peter 3:3-4 "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight" A gentle and quiet spirit. Now that doesn't mean that an outgoing person has to become shy. What it means is a self-controlled person. A person who carries much wisdom but rather than boasting in that wisdom, uses it to grow, just like a rose blossoms. How do you obtain a gentle and quiet spirit? Phillipians 4:8 says to focus on "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on those things" So remember the bugs that can infest a rose? Don't dwell with or on those things. Focus instead on the words of Jesus Christ, and whatever is GOOD. And in our heart of hearts, we know what is true, honorable, right, and pure and we know what we need to change in our lives to be able to focus on them. Use God's heavenly bug repellent and latch onto his truth.

A Bed of Roses in a Patch of Thorns

A bed of roses in a patch of thorns is a lot like you and me in this broken world. Roses, like any flower have to bloom, but to bloom they must have the proper treatment. If the roses are in an environment that receives plenty of rain and has the right amount of sunlight, then chances are it will bloom. However, if placed in the wrong environment chances are it will die. We, like roses, need to be in a proper environment in order to "bloom". If we surround ourselves with friends who are addicted to drugs, cuss a lot, continuously talk about sex, etc, then blooming will be VERY difficult. A rose can get infested with petal-eating bugs, and those bugs can quickly travel from one rose to another, destroying everything in its' path. If we place ourselves in bad situations or the wrong crowd, our character will become damaged just like those bug infested roses. The bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:33, "Do not be misled; bad company corrupts good morals." Don't let bug-infested roses mislead you.