Flowering Forth

"A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books."   -Walt Whitman

Consider for a moment, a tulip bulb. Withered and brown, it holds deeply inside it a potential and beautiful new life. Miraculously, the seemingly unattractive roundish bulb can hold safely in its core a prized flower of pink, yellow, red or white, yet to look upon the odd-looking object in the palm of one's hand, who would know that within such a proverbial "ugly ducking" could exist such a brilliant "swan!" Unlike the swan though, the bulb, if not properly nurtured with water, earth, and sunlight, will never begin the metamorphosis it is capable of! Instead, the bulb will just sit in a box or corner of someone's basement awaiting someone to come and plant it.

So too, does our Heavenly Father have a gift for us just waiting to be opened and brought forth to life! It is the gift of salvation! Unfortunately, like the untouched tulip bulb that sits on a ledge gathering dust, so too, do many people never come to know and experience the beautiful blooming forth of the spirit of God in their life! As the bulb needs sunlight and water to spring it to full existence, our spirit requires the nourishment of the truth of God and His word to permeate the hard, outer shell of sin that encases our hearts.

By inviting Christ in to our life, we can be transformed from a spiritual bulb to a blooming sprout! The continual watering and nurturing of spirit will thus provide a lovely and colorful flower that reaches ever upward toward the radiant light of Christ, and its fragrance is indeed sweet!

[ Melanie Schurr, © 1998 (http://www.angelfire.com/mi/melschurr) -- from 'Daily Wisdom' ]