Seeds, Flowers, Plants and Parables

Jesus taught through parables for a reason: He reached people on 'common ground'. Maybe that's why someone who works with seeds, flowers, and plants understands His parables better. (A parable is a short story designed to teach a lesson or a truth.)

I owned a horticulture corporation for 25 years, plus I live in beautiful Southern California where almost anything blossoms. As a result, God has had opportunity to teach me numerous spiritual truths through plants and flowers.

For example, He taught me the value of patience through Impatiens. I am just like other people - I have a real problem with wanting it now!

He taught me there was eternal value in what I had to endure as a child and teen, and I wrote my autobiography in a poem I wrote about the Broken Rose. What woman doesn't appreciate potpourri? It made me understand He had a different plan and purpose for my life than He did for my sister and others.

He taught me about the futility of fear through my hothouse Azaleas, and gave me courage to get out into reality knowing He was with me as He had promised He would be. I was coaxed out of the hothouse of my own making.

God taught me to look for weeds in my own heart before trying to find them in the lives of others. Now that was a valuable lesson!

He helped me grieve change as I dealt with the loss of flower fields in the city of Lompoc. I never have liked change.

He showed me how fleeting and self-seeking outer beauty was, as opposed to inner beauty that never fades and embraces others with His love.

I learned the value of nature, knowing God put the first man and woman in The Garden of Eden. Bougainvilleas, or my love for them, taught me how to de-stress and allow myself to feel His Presence and pleasure in me, His daughter. He was always feeding my soul through His imprints of Himself in nature.

He communicated His love for me through the dew-covered Sunflower, early one morning, and reminded me of the importance of keeping my eyes upon Him at all times. Without Him there is no hope in this world. Have you ever noticed how the Sunflower keeps turning so that it faces the sun? What an example of how every Christian should live!

And He solidified my knowledge of a spiritual conversion as I learned about the beautiful rare orchids. Even orchids need a conversion!

I was reminded of all the unsung heroes out there through my customer's choice of a large Ficus Benjamina. They receive no accolades, and yet they are society's most valuable asset.

There is nothing like getting your hands dirty in healthy soil, planting a seed and not digging it up before He has time to root and spout into a precious baby plant - He is the Perfecter of all seeds.

Many of the parables Jesus told were about soil, seeds, plants and other basic elements known to the people around Him. It has been the same with me, and I am eternally grateful to Him for the profound Truths He has taught me through seeds, flowers, and plants.

2009-2011 Christian Nature

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. Genesis 1:11