Driving home from Seattle Thursday afternoon, I realized I hadn’t bought Ana anything on my trip, like I usually do. Of course, it hadn’t exactly been a pleasure excursion and shopping had been low on the agenda, but I still wanted her to know how much I’d missed her and how much I love her.
As I approached Cashmere I remembered Christina Ford, the daughter of our friends Steve and Angela Ford, is selling fresh flower bouquets to raise money for college. I gave the Fords a quick call and they said to come on over.
When I arrived, Angela was just bringing the flowers up from the garden. I got to watch as she skillfully put them together, putting accents here and there to add to the beauty of the poppy flower arrangement.
I was surprised, however, when she took out some matches and began burning the ends of the flower stems. Angela said this helped the flowers absorb and retain water better. The scarring from the fire made it possible for the flower to stay beautiful longer.
Thinking about this later, I realized life is often like this. It’s never fun going through the fires of suffering, disappointment, and loss, but these trials can, if we let them, help make us better people, better able absorb God’s love into our hearts and share it’s beauty with the world around us.
So, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4)
This coming week I hope, no matter what comes your way, you will let God turn it into something good. As you face trials, when you feel the heat rise, don’t despair. Instead let the testing of your faith produce perseverance. Let the pain make your stronger. “Let perseverance finish its work”, and, every day, choose to bloom a little more brightly for Him.