Have you ever seen a flower grow? Many people have. Have you ever had a flower that was in the process of wilting? What did you do with it?
One day in a beautiful local market in Ho Chi Minh City I was given a simple bright orange flower. My favorite are wildflowers but this exquisite flower comes in as a close second. See, I love flowers with lots of petals surrounding the center. These flowers all might look similar but they are not. They all arrange their petals differently which make each unique.
However, as we ventured on with locals by the time I got home ten hours later the petals shriveled up. My first reaction was to immediately throw it away. It is ugly. It’s petals are wilting and there is no beauty. It was once beautiful but now it is dead. How could it possibly restore to what it once was?
As I was about to throw it away a teammate told me that it would restore to full beauty if I just gave it water and let it sit out to see sunshine. So here I was not being what brings it back to life, but giving it the means to access what it needs.
See we are all dying and withering away when we do not have the access to what keeps us alive. We might appear beautiful at first, almost as if there is nothing that is different, but we are struggling to stay alive. We have a thirsty quench that is reaching for water but a lot of times don’t know that is what keeps us alive. We are quenching sunlight and deeply desire hope that provides us joy but we can’t access it.
This month I met people who were like flowers wanting to be restored and have something to trust in and be renewed. God showed me you cannot be the sunshine or the water but you will see the beauty of a wilting flower and you can expose them to what will give them life. Introduce them to light and water and see if they will drink at the well and soak up the light from above.
Sometimes when we expose others to water and light we just have to trust that they accept the nutrients that are life givers to them.
And this is exactly what I’ve seen this month in Vietnam. I’ve seen wilted flowers that are beautiful in my eyes because I see them how God created them to be. I have gotten to see their exquisiteness and try to plant them in a place where they have access to the sun to spread their petals. I have tried to place them where it rains so they can soak up nutrients. I’ve seen flowers in bloom to soak in light from above. I got to see a wilting flower be fully restored by the hope that has come from above through the sun and the grace that is washed through watering flowers.
I’m thankful that even in a closed country individuals are unable to control how much sun shines down on the Vietnamese people. I’m thankful that they cannot control the rainstorms that cleans and restores the hearts that are thirsty for you.
I’m thankful that I got to walk hand in hand with a woman along the water in a closed country. I’m thankful I not only saw her drink from the water but acknowledge she wants to get washed by the water. She did this since she accepted the light of the world into her heart. I’m thankful I saw her change from saying she was a flower to your flower, a flower that will now never wilt. I’m thankful that she is now in bloom for all to see. I’m thankful that she points her petals upward to glorify you and all you have given her, the sunshine of hope.
But I’m also thankful for meeting all the wilting flowers I didn’t get to see bloom in their full beauty. I’m thankful I saw them ask what the sun was even though they didn’t get to feel or trust in His light yet. I’m thankful I still got to position the flower to know how to access the light even though it is not of my choice or ability. Because even though I didn’t see the flower’s potential beauty, I know the sun and the water will be able to provide as soon as they want the gift of life.
So here’s to always choosing to point a wilting flower to life because who knows what life can flourish from it.
Those who drink the water that I will give will never be thirsty again. John 4:14
Arise shine for your light has come Isa 60:1
