September 1929
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cheer the passerby. Their love-gift served as a bouquet of flowers to gladden his heart in a peculiarly trying time- in his life. Flowers are given as a token of the interest and love of a friend. In this respect, every good deed we do to be a friend to someone in need, is like giving a bouquet of flowers. How many bouquets have you given of late? F lowers A re C arefree One of the most interesting things about flowers is that they are carefree. Of course flowers are carefree! As a matter of fact, human beings seem to have a monoply on all the worry in existence! Oh, that we might learn the simple yet sublime lesson which Christ taught in the Ser mon on the Mount. Matthew 6:28-30: “And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one o f these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, 0 ye of little faith?” If God provides for the lilies with out worry on their part, will He not provide for us? If God makes the lilies beautiful without worry on their part, will He not make our lives beautiful without con stant worry on our part? “Yes, leave it with Him, the lilies all do, and they grow-. They grow in the rain, and they grow in the dew, yes, they grow— They grow in the darkness all hid in the night, They grow in the sunshine revealed by the light. They grow by the wayside a wonderful sight, still they grow. “Yes, leave it with Him, you’re more dear to His heart, you well know, Than the lilies that bloom, or the flowers that start ’neath the snow. Whatever you need, if you ask it in prayer, Just leave it with Him, for you are His care.” F lowers A re S hort -L ived But no matter how beautiful and fragrant and helpful and carefree the flowers may be, their lives at best are very short. Not long ago we had a gladiolus in a vase on our kitchen table. We watched the blossoms come out one by one, and also the old blossoms fade and wither away one by one. In a few days all those blossoms which had been such a source of inspiration to us were faded and gone. And the flowers give us a picture of the transitori ness of human life. Psalms 103:15-16: “A s for man, his days are as grass : as a flower o f the field, so he flourish- eth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it. no more.” Time is short. Are we making the most of it? The flowers also give us a picture of the uncertainty of riches. James' 1:10-11: “But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace o f the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.” Riches are very uncertain. These days a man may be a million aire one day and a pauper the next. And even if his riches last during his lifetime, time soon passes and the man goes “We go this way but once. Ah, never more Can we go back along the selfsame way, To get more out of life, undo the wrongs, Or speak love’s words we knew but did not say.”
will be able to say of us, no matter if our lives have been full of sin in the past, “He shall grow as the lily." Let us seek to beautify the ugly surroundings which may be about us, by living lives as pure as the lily, as beautiful as God’s flowers. F lowers A re F ragrant A second thing which makes the flowers such a bless ing to us is their fragrance. Of course, not all flowers are fragrant, but those that are, become a double blessing to us. The fragrance of the flowers is beautifully sym bolical of the fragrance which comes from Christ and which it is our duty as Christians to pass on to others. 2 Corinthians 2:14-15 (Moffatt’s translation): “Where- ever I go, thank God, he makes my life a constant pageant of triumph in Christ, diffusing the perfume o f his knowl edge everywhere by me. I live fo r God as the fragrance o f Christ breathed alike on those who are being saved and on those who are perishing.” The first thing this verse teaches us is that all our fragrance comes from Christ. Have you ever stood amongst such a mass of sweetly per fumed flowers that your very clothes imbibed their fra grance? If you would have your lives all saturated with the sweetness of the Lord, then you must spend much time in the presence of “the Rose o f Sharon, and the Lily of the Valley." The other thought is this: When you have been filled with Christ’s fragrance, then it is your duty to diffuse that fragrance to others, both saved and unsaved. It is our privilege to give to the world a sample of the fragrance which comes from the Rose of Sharon, and thus create in men a desire for that fragrance in their own lives. Weary soul, take back the spices, Today no off’ring need’st thou bring. Come and kneel beside the lilies, Breathe the fragrance of the spring. Fragrance down the ages wafting, From those far Judean hills, Where the weary throngs were pressing.
With their sin-cursed souls and ills. Blessed fragrance from His presence. Where the lilies bloom today, Come and kneel in deep contrition,— Thy grave clothes will fall away. And a wond’rous power transforming,
All thy life, henceforth, shall be Fair and fragrant like the lilies, Since thy Lord redeemeth thee. —Kate P. Flenniken in “Sunday School Timet "
F lowers A re H elpful Flowers are not only beautiful and fragrant, they are also helpful. What cheer they bring to those who are sick, and what encouragement to those who are under the cloud of despondency! Flowers seem to speak a message of hope to those who need it. One day the apostle Paul was shut up in prison in Rome. A little group of church members living in the city of Philippi found out about Paul’s predicament, chose one of their number, Epaphro- ditus, and sent him away to Rome with a love gift for Paul. This gift was a source of great joy to Paul, and so in writing his thank-you letter back, we find the apostle referring to the incident in these words (Philippians 4: 10) : “But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again.” In using the word “flourish” Paul evidently had in mind the pic ture of a flower-plant growing forth in the springtime to
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