SOMEDAY THE ROSE WILL BLOOM

2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.


Having lived in the Northern United States for all of my life, except for 2 years that I don’t really remember, I was so excited to see flowers blooming in March all around our new Tennessee home. The trees were in full bloom by mid-march and the smell of lilacs wafted through the open window by Early April.

 In Michigan it is not wise to plant flowers before Memorial Day. I learned this lesson the year my son graduated from high school. I wanted the back yard to be a beautiful garden for his graduation party and with the knowledge that it takes a few weeks for the flowers to fill in, I decided to plant all the flower beds on Mother’s Day weekend. Of course, it is Michigan and the temps at night are still quite cool. The frost came and my flowers were puny with blackened leaves. I had to replant at the end of May at double the expense, but I had learned my lesson.

It was the first of May; I was enjoying the 80 degree temps, admiring the completely leafed-out trees and thanking God for allowing me to live in such a beautiful city when my eye caught two perfectly formed rose buds. One was a creamy white and the other was a pinkish red. Both were tightly closed and I couldn’t wait to see them in full bloom and breathe in their sweet fragrance. In a couple of days the creamy rose blossomed into a beautiful full-blown rose. I enjoyed every minute of its week-long life. Finally the petals dropped to the ground to complete the cycle of life.

The other rose continued to stay tightly closed. Its stem was straight, reaching longingly toward the warm sun. Its leaves were green and healthy with no sign of pests or disease but the flower stubbornly refused to open and release its fragrant beauty. On Sunday, I noticed that the tightly closed bud was beginning to look a little wrinkled and I remarked to Steve that for some reason the flower had dried up right on the stem. Tuesday morning, I walked out to water the potted flowers and there was my breathtakingly beautiful rose in glorious full bloom.

Many times I have been like the rose. It seemed that conditions were perfect and everything was in order. I had allowed the Spirit to water my roots, had felt warmed by God’s presence and fed by His Word, yet nothing had happened; I was as tightly closed as the rose bud. There were times I wondered; would it ever be my season? Would God ever allow me to unfold and be all that He had planned me to be? Sometimes I felt dry and wrinkled and almost resigned to withering right on the vine but a ray of hope would slowly warm my petals and I would hang on for another day.

 What the rose doesn’t see is that even when it is not blooming, it is maturing and the roots are being fed. 

When it didn’t seem as if I was progressing, God was at work on the roots; digging and pruning to make a healthy plant that would glorify Him. I may not be fully bloomed out yet, there may still be a little more growing to be done but, like my lovely rose, someday I will wake up to be transformed into something beautiful to be used for His glory.