The flower flourishes and fades away....

My Christmas Cactus which is blooming for the second time since November.

As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes,
When the wind has passed over it,
It is no more;
And its place acknowledges it no longer.
But the lovingkindness of the Lord is
From everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children's children,
To those who keep His covenant,
And who remember his precepts
To do them.

~Psalm 103:17, 18



There is very little flourishing outdoors in this season of winter, but indoors, I am watching another flourish of blossoms shooting forth from my Christmas Cactus. It fully bloomed back before Thanksgiving and as the flowers dried up and fell, I noticed tiny new buds were coming on. I didn't really think that they would mature since it produced such a bountiful bust of blooms, but it did. What beauty and what joy it brings to me each time I walk into my laundry room where the south sun can still pour through my windows even at this, the darkest time of the year and see a riotous burst of color and form.

Most of the year, my Christmas Cactus stands in its clay pot, fairly obscure except for its generous size. It demands very little of me. I water it once a week or so and occasionally I give it a little fertilizer after the blooming time is past. When the flowers appear, it is hard not to stop and notice, to look deeply at the flower and see the intricacy of its form and beauty. I often wonder at it and think, "My family and I and just a few others are the only ones who will ever see these gorgeous flowers." It blooms profusely each year, and yet very few will ever appreciate it. I often think this way when I'm out walking through my pastures in the springtime when the first blooms of the prairie are springing up. Hardly a person, if any, will ever notice the low-growing buttercups or violets in my pasture, and I surely don't see every single one of them, and yet, God created them. He put them exactly in their spot to do what flowers do -- grow and bloom and then fade away where no one will acknowledge them again. So it is with man. We are put here for just a season to grow, then bloom and flourish, as the Bible says, and we are no more. In all the world, only a few people will ever know you intimately. A few will say they are acquainted with you, and others will say they've heard of you. But God placed you and me exactly where we are for His purposes which we may never fully understand. As for me, I don't need to understand, but I pray that I will flourish and grow out here in the Middle Of Nowhere, according to His purpose, where just a few will ever notice my blooming. I will fade away, but the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting.