Tending To Our Flowers

As I’ve mentioned before, I belong to a Christian moms’ group called MOPs (Mothers Of Preschoolers), and I enjoy our monthly meetings immensely.  Every month, we receive a handout with a little essay that contains advice or words of wisdom from one mom to the rest of us.  I found this month’s article beautiful and thought-provoking, and things like this help motivate me and give me strength to get through some of those really tough days of being a mom.  Hope you like it!

Tending to Our Flowers

by Katherine Craddock

So it is with all of our children – their glory is like the flowers of the field.  For each generation, God has prepared an entire garden of flowers.  Some, like tiny crocuses, tulips, and hyacinths, bloom early in their lives.  Their soft beauty, strong resilience, and beautiful fragrance give us a reminder of hope and resurrection – then sweetly melt away.

Other children burst forth with wild, exuberant colors in their elementary and teen years.  Some will blossom and bear fruit later, in the middle of their lives.  Other cut flowers will fill our homes with color and fragrance and life until they are suddenly gone.

There are loud, attractive summer sun flowers like echinacea, Russian sage, daisies, and black-eyed Susans.  There are thorny briers that burst into rose blooms, and quieter shade plants like hosta and hydrangea who bring beauty and peace to the darkness.

And last of all, there are the plants that have been patiently and steadily growing all along, looking like nothing much.  Entire seasons of life can pass before these flowers find their voice.  But when they do, the asters and sedums, chrysanthemums and lilies remind us of the beauty that was and is to come.

Who can say which has more beauty or value, the crocus or the rose?  Each, when lovingly tended, is unique in its own strength and has no need to be compared.

So whether your daughter walks at 9 months or 19 months; whether your wild son behaves as early as Preschool or not until after college, be encouraged that every child – “gifted”, “disabled”, or “normal”, will bloom with great beauty in the Gardeners’ time.

“All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.” – Isaiah 40:6