"If a soulless flower can give God glory by blooming regardless of circumstance, what might I do—what must I do—as a child of God?
I found this calendula blossom one morning in November. It stood shining like a beacon in the middle of a very dead garden. All the other flowers had bloomed in the golden days of summer, tossing their smiles at us every lovely day from June to September. But I cannot remember the individual glow of a single summer-day flower. They bloomed when they were supposed to, faded when expected, and died under duress like every ordinary flower in my garden.
But this blossom! This blossom is immortalized in my memory, on my screen-saver, in my photo album, on my website, and now I share its glory with tens of thousands of readers. Because it bloomed regardless of circumstances. Because it smiled at the frost like the others smiled at the sun. Because it died beautiful, its smile frozen in that last daring cheer for the God who made it.
True, the Calendula was just a flower. It had no soul on which to hang character for laud and acclaim. But if a soulless flower can give God glory by blooming regardless of circumstance, what might I do—what must I do—as a child of God?
“For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:”
I Peter 2:19-21..."
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