Try to bloom.

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Spring, not autumn, is the season for fresh flowers, and we love gathering crocus, lily of the valley, and jonquils into our homes. Fall, on the other hand, is about readying our gardens for winter. Though colored leaves can be striking, fresh flowers are hard to come by…

…unless you live in my neighborhood.

As Jack and I strolled around the block last week, we found a spring-like surprise: brand new blossoms in dramatic purple, pushing up from a tangle of ivy roots and stems. Looking more like Easter than Columbus Day, they made me stop to oooh and ahhh, and I’ve been thinking about them ever since.

All of us have heard the expression, “Bloom where you’re planted,” which is exactly what these flowers are doing. Though that quote isn’t from Scripture, its principle is. No matter what snarling circumstances surround us, God wants each of us to accept our lot in life, or, put more eloquently, to embrace his will.

What if he decides that an extreme hardship is what we need to turn our attention to him? Wouldn’t that “misfortune,” then, be in our best interest? That kind of logic makes us squirm. “It’s not fair!” we say.

All of us want to live on Easy Street. Something deep inside says we deserve that. So why doesn’t God make it happen? If he can do anything, then why doesn’t he choose to make us happy?

  • Because each difficulty coaxes us closer to him.
  • Because we can demonstrate his sustenance through troubles.
  • Because by cheerfully enduring, we can bank rewards for later.
  • Because flexing our perseverance-muscles makes us stronger for next time.
  • Because living above circumstances is the high-road way to live.
  • Because God has told us, “In this, you can please me.”

In other words, the Lord assigns certain hardships to each of us and is keenly interested in how we’ll handle them. When we bloom in the middle of those messes, whether it’s poverty, terminal illness, financial stress, or something else, the beauty and perfume of the resulting flowers can impact many, much like the purple “Resurrection Lily” (or “Surprise Lily”) impacted me. When we’re joyful through suffering, it surprises people.

But there’s a catch. We can’t do it on our own. Cheerfully accepting a “fate” that seems unfair makes our mental scales-of-justice tip. More natural is to run from it, fight it, or try to escape it altogether. From where God sits, however, those reactions go down as losses.

So, to encourage us to bloom against all odds exactly where he plants us, the Lord has told us that one day every believer will indeed have an address on Easy Street. And I’ll bet the blossoms in those yards are going to be out of this world.

“Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you.” (Romans 12:2)

Thirst-Quenching Love

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All of us parents know that loving a child requires sacrifice. Love is why we do it, and we’re more than willing to give up whatever it takes to be a good mom or dad.

When we look at the life of Jesus, we see that he sacrificed, too, not just on the cross but every day in smaller ways. What were some of those day-to-day sacrifices he made because he loved us?

Last weekend I heard a sermon about the Samaritan woman at the well who had a one-on-one encounter with Christ without knowing who he was. We’ve all read that story from John 4 and have heard more than a few teachings on it. But as always in studying God’s Word, there’s more to learn.

Our speaker detailed the narrative, beginning with a simple descriptive statement that let us know what condition Jesus’ was in when he arrived at the well. Scripture says, “Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime.” So, in this very dry desert area, in the heat of the day, the man-Jesus needed a drink badly.

He asked the woman if she would draw a little water for him with the jug she’d brought, but a conversation ensued instead. They talked all around water without drinking any, and a considerable length of time passed. What was new to me, however, was realizing for the first time that although Jesus was still very thirsty, he never got his drink.

He could have insisted. After all, he was a man, and she was a woman, and it was the women of that day who drew the water. But his number one concern was not for his own thirst but for the woman’s dry soul and those of her friends and neighbors. His goal was to get them all saved. If it meant being parched, he’d do it.

Jesus was very thirsty another time, too: on the cross. He was suffering intensely, so tortured that he would soon die, but his severe thirst prompted him to ask for a drink. Once again, though, his thirst was left unsatisfied. The overwhelming love that kept him on the cross was willing to give up everything because of his goal to save our souls.

How often do I crack open a bottle of water without a thought of not being able to quench my thirst? Each swallow should remind me to thank him again for enduring such intense thirst so that I could drink his living water.

One day I came to Him, I was so thirsty.
I asked for water, my throat was so dry.
He gave me water that I had never dreamed of.
But for this water, my Lord had to die.

He said, “I thirst” yet he made the river.
He said, “I thirst” yet he made the sea.
“I thirst,” said the king of the ages.
In His great thirst He brought water to me. *

“Let them praise the Lord for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them. For he satisfies the thirsty…” (Psalm 107:8-9)

*(By Robin Walker)

True Freedom

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Attending the “True Woman 12” conference in Indianapolis turned out to be 3 productive days of discovery and challenge. One of the most impacting moments happened on the first day when a parade of conference volunteers entered the expansive convention center floor carrying something unusual: a paper chain, nearly half a mile long.

As we watched over 100 women snake their way down the aisles and around the perimeter carrying the colorful construction-paper chain, we were told that the name of each person attending the conference was written on one of the links, along with a prayer specifically written for them. Those prayers had been prayed over us during the last month by 150 women who hoped we would be nourished and uplifted by “True Woman 12.”

Since there were 8200 of us at the conference, that meant each of those women who made the links, wrote the names, recorded the prayers, and prayed them, did so for over 50 women apiece. But most significant was that these women were praying from their prison cells at a correctional facility in Arkansas.

As we took in the magnitude of their gift, those 150 women wanted to connect with the 8200 of us in one more way, too. Some of them recorded prayers for us on video, and we watched as they passionately asked God to bless those of us sitting at the convention center. I was so bowled over by their kindness toward a mega-crowd of strangers I can’t even remember what they said. But God heard and began acting on their requests well ahead of our arrival to Indianapolis.

We had one more gripping surprise, a real-time greeting from these same women. As the video screens clicked on, suddenly we saw them and they saw us. These sisters in Christ, who would have loved to attend the conference in person themselves, didn’t let that “not” get in the way of blessing all of us, waving their arms wildly in a greeting.

Making that chain and praying those prayers wasn’t rational and, by the world’s standards, made no sense. But 1 John 5:1 says, “Everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.” Because of that, these prisoners reached out to us with the love of the Father, which was absolutely spilling out of them. We were delighted, and surely God was, too.

Humbled and stunned by their depth of caring, we were amazed at what happened next. Two women came on stage with gladness and joy written all over their faces, telling us they had both been prisoners with the incarcerated women on the screen. Taking the mic, the first woman said something I’ll never forget. “I was in prison for 12½ years…. the best years of my life.”

She could say that for only one reason: while she was behind bars, she met Jesus Christ. From that moment on, no chains could bind her, and by her own testimony, he had made her a free woman.

“If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36)