THE LESSON OF THE IRIS

These pictures were taken from our yard as I aimed my camera into our neighbor's floral display yesterday! I missed the opportunity last year because the days of beauty are so brief and when I saw the blossoms appear a few days ago I determined it would not be so this year! I was busy around but all of a sudden yesterday I decided, "This is the day!" so I took the pictures, came in and played with my photo program, printed some copies and took to the neighbor who planted the iris. She was so appreciative and I was able to tell her she has given a gift to my husband since purple iris is his favorite flower! I added my thought that this way she could enjoy her flowers all year long!
The amazing thing about the iris is that in comparison the beauty was blighted today; the freshness of the "Look at me!" was replaced with limp petals still well formed as they hung on and blew in the wind. The change came swiftly just as I had known it would so I am thankful I paid heed to the lesson of last year's loss!
The beauty of the iris is a lesson for life: we need to take advantage of the God-given moments in appreciation of the now because all too soon these moments will be past. Say, “I love you,” now. Make the phone call today. See if you can beat the mailman to the box with your outgoing get-well card/note-of-encouragement before he puts the incoming junk mail in there! Don’t wait until tomorrow…

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” James 4:13-14 (NKJV)
© Marilyn Sue Moore 4-15-08

“IN THE WORLD YOU HAVE TRIBULATION, BUT TAKE COURAGE…”

It is always a concern when I learn of a young woman, particularly a young mother, who has developed breast cancer or some other devastating ailment. My mind rather swiftly goes back to how my major goal in life was to be THE ONE to raise my children and the feelings of empathy wash through me with the surge of an overflowing river.
However, I also know God had a plan for us before the beginning of the world because He knew our needs even before He created the world or us!!! (Ephesians 1:4) This truth along with Psalm 139:13-16 teaches us that He knew us and planned our days before He knit us together in the wombs of our mothers. Having had the experience of learning to knit I so appreciate that analogy, although in my knitting I have dropped some stitches and many of mine were uneven, definitely not an attribute of God's work since we are fearfully and wonderfully made! We can know that God is in control in all of life if we allow Him to be whether we perceive times as good or bad. While we often have a tendency to look at any disappointing news with discouragement so much that appears impossible can be overcome with God. (Luke 18:27)
Just as happened to my brand new red-orange sweater on the first day of school one year, we will develop snags in our lives that seem to mar its beauty; however, my mother used a crochet hook to pull the offending loose yarn inside, then she smoothed the tightened area around the snag fixing it so it didn’t look so bad anymore. While my mom did a neat job, God is a far better mender of all that is in disrepair in our lives spiritually and physically from the inside out! And just as with the sweater snag, the repair did not completely remove the reminder and sometimes in life there are tribulations that man cannot remove and God says, “No,” about doing so. That is the time we have choices to make; we can choose to be a child who throws a temper tantrum to try to get our own way or one who goes to Him to rest in His Word filled with so much hope and so many promises. We know that James 5:16b states that “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much,” so let us pursue righteousness (I Timothy 6:11b) like never before and pray without ceasing (I Thessalonians 5:17) while we remember and rest in Jesus’ words in John 16:33b (NASB):
“In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world!”
©Marilyn Sue Moore 4-16-08