Mar 19, 2011

Most Beautiful: Desert Flower and Sidewalk Survivor

Common Sense Commentary: There is far more to be said for the "Widow's Mite" level of giving than meets the eye. Similarly, there is far more to true beauty than can be seen on the surface. The same is true of success. The pastor of a large flourishing church .... inherited from his departed father, said to my friend, Wayne Davis, who pastored a small church in West Texas, "Wayne, you haven't come very far in the ministry, what are your plans?" Wayne who grew up tough, poor and lean, had been a roughneck on oil derricks and a rodeo, bull riding champion, answered, "You don't know where I started." An awful lot depends on where you started before determining your success.

The most beautiful flower in this world is not a jungle orchid or a hot house rose but a desert flower. Desert flowers have blossomed and flourished in dry, rocky, parched sand surrounded by the deserts' unrelenting hot breath, thorns, scorpions, snakes and loneliness. Their very existence in such a clime is as miraculous as their contrasting beauty in the midst of such contradiction. In the desert, the fleeting rain shower is more blessed than oceans of water elsewhere. It awakens and nourishes the desert flower to its created purpose to glorify God.

The most beautiful flower in any city is not in its gardens or florist shops but thrives under another kind of destructive assault. Look closely to the cracks in the city sidewalks where stampedes of rushing feet wear the concrete smooth. The poor soil there is thin, dry and mostly carbon and dust. Even so, there grows the tiniest of flowers thriving on a bit of nothing and each looking up to its Creator in glorious, minute color. These tiniest of flowers know not fear, deprivation, inferiority or insecurity. They do know their calling ... to glorify God.

Apply this to the people you know.

Pass it on. RB

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