Only a rose!

 

A bible verse was brought to mind the other day as we were discussing the state of an indoor miniature rose bush. You see indoor plants quite often survive in our house despite our best efforts to unintentionally give them a hard time. The verses are from 2 Corinthians 4: 8 & 9 which say, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned;  struck down, but not destroyed”.
 
When given to us the little rose bush was fully in leaf, with several buds and even a couple of pretty white flowers. So far so good, the plant really looked very healthy.
 
However, as time went by, and some of the other buds bloomed into flower, it soon started to look as though it had seen better days. Gradually the flowers faded, the buds stopped, the leaves dropped off and soon it was just a few twiggy bits sticking out of the pot. The plant was like this for quite a while despite our best efforts with water, plant feed and the occasionally singing to it! There was, of course, the threat that if it didn’t pick itself up it would end up in the bin, pot and all.
 
Joy of joys, this is where our discussion came in – there was, right in front of us, several little leaves starting to appear on the twiggy bits. Yes, the plant is now showing signs of real life and each day new  leaves are appearing. Maybe, the water or the feed, or even the singing has seemingly restored the plant and it is now doing well. I think the buds and flowers will soon return.
 
But for us, all this brought life to the verse we had recalled. As Christians, although we are often hard-pressed, facing hardships and disappointments, we are fed, watered and supported by a loving God. So we will never suffer total defeat and we are given the strength to rise up and be overcomers through our faith in our Creator God, the supplier and protector of our miniature rose.