With spring only three days away, my mind races ahead to summer when our bed of zinnias will be in bloom. Freshly cut yellow, red, orange and pink flowers will once again decorate my table. The brilliant colors and extended growing season make zinnias a favorite addition to our landscaping.
Several years ago my oldest daughter, Hayley Ann, started our annual zinnia planting. We were at our local nursery looking at shrubs, flowers and seeds trying to decide what would look good and be easy for our non-green-thumbs to grow. She saw a package of zinnia seeds and thought they looked pretty. For $1.89 I decided we might as well try them. To our amazement they grew. No, not grew, flourished. And when we clipped them and put them in vases they lasted longer than any other cut flowers we had tried. Thus, every spring we buy packages and packages of zinnia seeds.
Looking at the calendar I pencil a day next week for Hayley Ann and I to make our trek to the nursery. As she gets older mother/daughter days get more important and a tad harder to plan. A tad harder? Who am I kidding? It is downright tough to find a day to set aside. She is seventeen now and has her own activities while I have schedules for three other children and a husband to work around. But it looks like next Thursday afternoon, after her archeology class, will work perfectly.
With a smile on my face and zinnias on my mind I absentmindedly turn the burner on to heat up my kettle of water and reach into the cupboard for some tea. I glance out the kitchen window and spy the raised beds where we will plant the seeds. Immediately, I send up a ‘thank you prayer’ as I realize I do not need to get the area ready. The dirt has been fertilized thanks to our rabbits and it has been dug up thanks to our chickens. The beds are all ready for us to plant. I just love animals – especially when they are so helpful and remove a chore from my list.
Then it hits me. As I am staring out at the dirt, the conversation I had with Hayley Ann about the need to put others first and to follow God’s plan no matter what we want to do replays in my mind. We were discussing the fact that there is no other way to live a life pleasing to God than to put our own selfish desires to death and live in Christ – obeying God’s will for our lives. We talked about the confusion we feel when God desires something of us that is different than what we want. And the pain, real pain that is involved with dieing to self, opening our hands and giving to God whatever it is we wanted. We ended the conversation by talking about the great joy, satisfaction and peace we receive after going through the pain and how that joy is incredibly fuller than anything we could have imagined.
So it is with the zinnia seed. The seed is a seed. How profound, I know. But the seed must give itself up – be buried in dirt away from the light of the sun and be willing to not be a seed anymore. It is this willingness that allows the seed to grow into an amazingly brilliant flower. Can you imagine if the seed chose to be selfish and not give itself up? It would simply stay a seed and the beauty it was created to bring would be forever lost.
Oh, how true that is for us, as well! We face choices everyday that pit our own selfish desires against God’s will. If we choose our way we might be happy for a moment but that fleeting feeling will give way to disappointment and an unfulfilled life. However, if we make the choice to follow God, being willing to let go of our wants, we will bloom into a person overflowing with joy and contentment and the beauty of a life bringing glory to God will be vibrant. As we live out our purpose with passion we will be completely fulfilled regardless of what we gave up.
Hearing the whistle on my tea kettle I thank God again. This time for giving me such a powerful tool to help teach my younger children about unselfishness – zinnias.
The next time you see a zinnia remember the importance of dieing to self and tell God you are willing to give your desires over to Him. As the seed pushes its way through the dirt into the light, push your way through the pain into the joy. Happy Blooming!
Several years ago my oldest daughter, Hayley Ann, started our annual zinnia planting. We were at our local nursery looking at shrubs, flowers and seeds trying to decide what would look good and be easy for our non-green-thumbs to grow. She saw a package of zinnia seeds and thought they looked pretty. For $1.89 I decided we might as well try them. To our amazement they grew. No, not grew, flourished. And when we clipped them and put them in vases they lasted longer than any other cut flowers we had tried. Thus, every spring we buy packages and packages of zinnia seeds.
Looking at the calendar I pencil a day next week for Hayley Ann and I to make our trek to the nursery. As she gets older mother/daughter days get more important and a tad harder to plan. A tad harder? Who am I kidding? It is downright tough to find a day to set aside. She is seventeen now and has her own activities while I have schedules for three other children and a husband to work around. But it looks like next Thursday afternoon, after her archeology class, will work perfectly.
With a smile on my face and zinnias on my mind I absentmindedly turn the burner on to heat up my kettle of water and reach into the cupboard for some tea. I glance out the kitchen window and spy the raised beds where we will plant the seeds. Immediately, I send up a ‘thank you prayer’ as I realize I do not need to get the area ready. The dirt has been fertilized thanks to our rabbits and it has been dug up thanks to our chickens. The beds are all ready for us to plant. I just love animals – especially when they are so helpful and remove a chore from my list.
Then it hits me. As I am staring out at the dirt, the conversation I had with Hayley Ann about the need to put others first and to follow God’s plan no matter what we want to do replays in my mind. We were discussing the fact that there is no other way to live a life pleasing to God than to put our own selfish desires to death and live in Christ – obeying God’s will for our lives. We talked about the confusion we feel when God desires something of us that is different than what we want. And the pain, real pain that is involved with dieing to self, opening our hands and giving to God whatever it is we wanted. We ended the conversation by talking about the great joy, satisfaction and peace we receive after going through the pain and how that joy is incredibly fuller than anything we could have imagined.
So it is with the zinnia seed. The seed is a seed. How profound, I know. But the seed must give itself up – be buried in dirt away from the light of the sun and be willing to not be a seed anymore. It is this willingness that allows the seed to grow into an amazingly brilliant flower. Can you imagine if the seed chose to be selfish and not give itself up? It would simply stay a seed and the beauty it was created to bring would be forever lost.
Oh, how true that is for us, as well! We face choices everyday that pit our own selfish desires against God’s will. If we choose our way we might be happy for a moment but that fleeting feeling will give way to disappointment and an unfulfilled life. However, if we make the choice to follow God, being willing to let go of our wants, we will bloom into a person overflowing with joy and contentment and the beauty of a life bringing glory to God will be vibrant. As we live out our purpose with passion we will be completely fulfilled regardless of what we gave up.
Hearing the whistle on my tea kettle I thank God again. This time for giving me such a powerful tool to help teach my younger children about unselfishness – zinnias.
The next time you see a zinnia remember the importance of dieing to self and tell God you are willing to give your desires over to Him. As the seed pushes its way through the dirt into the light, push your way through the pain into the joy. Happy Blooming!
No comments:
Post a Comment