Whenever I see a plant growing in an unexpected place, one where the conditions don’t appear to support life let alone nurture it, I am reminded that with God, everything is possible! I find these delicate pretty life forms thriving in the most inhospitable of environments to always be an encouragement and a reminder of relentless and unstoppable ability of God to transform even the most desperate of situations.
There is a vulnerability in this solitary flower standing alone so precariously rooted in the gutter debris, almost certain to be washed away in the next heavy rainfall, but it is here against the greyness of the surroundings that the beautiful red flower stands out and looks so elegant. In a flowerbed it might be safe and tended to, but it would also be lost in amongst the other flowers, one of many. But here the baroness of its surroundings is part of what gives it its sense of beauty.
How does such a fragile and beautiful thing manage to survive? In the writings of Julian of Norwich, she says “God showed me a little thing the size of a hazelnut… I marvelled that it could last for I thought it might have crumbled to nothing, it was so small. And the answer came into my mind it lasts and ever shall be because God loves it and all things have their being in the love of God”
Life can sometimes feel as if it is a struggle, but in the depths of that despair, when all seems lost and we feel as if we face a stone wall in every direction, the recall this or some other such flower that has caught your attention, and remember that with God each of us has the ability to overcome adversity. To be the flower growing in the crack or the gutter. To grow and thrive in that bleak place, turning our struggle into a triumph, and an opportunity to make our mark in places nobody (including ourselves) would ever expect making a small but important difference to those around us.
Liz
ME
I am born with a purpose And I live with a focus Grow with a vision Survive for a mission I got a reason To live for a season Through the trials I have to triumph ‘cos my mission Is to humanity To add quality And meaning to life So I strive To overcome the storm That seems so tough But for my purpose I shall not lose focus No thought of giving up When I have not done all That humanity demands For it is a command I must obey
By Egba Ogaba Christian
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