A Believer's Bouquet

Romans 12:4-5 "For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another." 

I had the unique privilege this week to celebrate a ministry milestone of five years. "Coffee Break" at my church is a gathering of woman who come to fellowship, eat decadent desserts, sip coffee, compete in silly games, worship, then settle in to hear a woman within our own church share their compelling testimony.

Coffee Break Five Year Celebration 

Everyone has a story. If you have been redeemed by the Lord, set free, been given hope through a hopeless situation, grieved, made irreversible decisions, suffered abuse, dealt with difficult relationships, been hurt by loved ones, suffer an illness, relied on God for the impossible, stepped out in faith when others questioned your sanity, felt panicky, anxiety, depression, even the unthinkable thoughts...

If you've been angry, been betrayed, broken, failed, scared, felt unloved, ashamed, questioned your faith, ran away...

and yet, God found you and filled you with hope, laughter and purpose... JOY.

If you have sinned, been forgiven and now choose to live for Christ despite it all...

God created in you a testimony of your faith in Him. FYI: For continued healing.

Be transparent and share. It's hard stuff, but full of blessings and further healing.

Trust Him.

~~~

Tonight, my neighbor came over and asked me to put together some bouquets of flowers for the important moms in his life. Glad to do it for he blesses us with his handyman and mechanical abilities. My son got the card table out while he brought in the three large wrapped bunches of flowers,  purchased downtown this morning at the flower mart.

 



As I was arranging the flowers, I thought of how this is like Coffee Break, or even the Body of Christ. Some of us are beautiful mums, roses, tall daisies, or zinnias, all different in color and shape and story, the sanctification journey.  Some of us are fillers, like the babies breath or the eucalyptus branches; those little encouragers that complement and define the story, God's Word of Truth.  Some of us are the vases, open to be filled and displayed, the very foundation of our faith, our teachers, pastors and mentors.  Then, finally, there is the water which sustains us all, The Holy Spirit.

And we give in Love, because He first loved us. 

Jesus eternally loves, defines love in us, teaches us to love, died and rose again because of LOVE.

We bloom and show His love best working together in unity with all our uniqueness and purposes. He designed it that way!  So let's be a little showy! --All for His Glory in our story!


God gathers us all together and makes a gorgeous bouquet to set out openly,  even on our own welcoming table for others to see and take in the sweet aroma of our Creator, our Maker.

 


Thank you Lord for flowers. I sure love them,  the colors and shapes and sizes. I love the process of planting and nurturing, weeding and caring, even clipping and displaying. Thank you Lord for Your people, the Body of Christ. I sure love them, the stories and the testimony, the sharing and the caring, the trusting and gathering to sing and worship together. I love the forgiving, the moving over to make room for one more, the new little buds forming, and the sweet aroma of prayer we create together for our own seedlings. May the display of believers, the bunches of branches and petals of praise, bring You Glory in our story, in our love for one another, in our testimony of hope. Thank you Lord for planting me where I'm at and nurturing me within the Bouquet of  Belief, for I am pressed deep into the Water of Life. Amen.

P.S.  Happy Mother's Day!  

Journal prompt: Do you see yourself as part of God's Bouquet?  Where in the church is your gifts displayed for His Glory?  Where is He leading you to serve?

Growing Season

Isaiah 43:19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland."

Sometimes, things end.

A break up happens, a final moment, a graduation of sorts.

Sometimes, things get stale, people move away, energy fades. 

Sometimes, we’ve learned, we’ve mentored, we’ve shared, and we just know it’s the right time to venture out, gather around some new faces. Not that they need to learn from me, but more, so new experiences and learning/growing begins to excite the soul once more. A new pathway can lead to new insights. 

Its spring! Let's look at some of our potted plants. Are you finding overcrowding, bursting- at- the -seams geraniums? They divide easily. It just takes a small section to break off, re-root and in no time, you’ve got a new plant.

An old Aloe Vera shoots off new arms every year and I frequently break off a cluster to start in a pot for someone. They come in handy for sunburns. 

A piece of ground that held my beautiful impatients, sits restless, after the frost got to them this year. The dirt longs for some new color and I hope to fill the space up soon. 

Enumerable buds are about to burst on my roses and the Amaryllis are just about to open. 

Wouldn’t it be sad if they just stayed in their bud form, never getting the chance to open up and absorb the sunshine and show off their beauty. After all, that is their purpose.

People are like that sometimes. They stay in their safe little bud, afraid to branch out, open up to what lies in their God-created cells, afraid what Holiness, Christ-likeness means, what it changes. 

What if they were meant to be a prize rose? What if they were meant to adorn a bouquet for a wedding and then preserved in a memory book? What if they were gathered to bridge a friendship in an act of forgiveness, bring joy to an ill or grieving person, or even "soothe a sunburn"?

And what if their only purpose was for the joy of the moment, and they bloomed to their full potential in their season? 

The "sometimes" do happen, and the "what-ifs" do too.

This week after listening to God, I know what the “sometimes” are, and He inspired me about the “what-ifs.”

With that thought in mind, I am gathering my spade, my planting mix, a few selected pots and with the Creator’s skill and green thumb, hope to begin a new “potted garden” of joyful, beautiful petals, willing to sink their roots in the warm soil of His grace. 

Lord, OK, I am stepping out in obedience here. I’m listening and trusting, cultivating faith in Your plan. Keep my “pots” ready and willing to be filled with your good nurturing and I look forward to replanted and bursting buds multiplying out JOY in the garden of our hearts, Amen.