Christian Living

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We Are the Roses
By P.J. Hasty

This spring I finally planted rosebushes. I have wanted to do that for years, but I could never justify the cost. I got some really great deals and bought 8 small bushes. The colors are amazing – crimson red, coral orange, ivory white, and deep pink. I love seeing them all in bloom. Each is beautiful by itself, but looking at them all together intensifies their splendor.
I love to garden and work to help my plants grow and flourish. Why? I think it is because I can look at the work I have done and see a tangible difference in my plants. I like to just sit and look at them some days; I wish I had more time to watch. I love when I see them after a long day of rain or sunshine. Each plant has changed: either it has grown a little more or has a new blossom. The buds that are just forming have the potential to be beautiful roses. I dare not touch those; I would hate to hurt them.
In my vegetable garden it isn’t much different. I pay close attention to my tomato plants. I prune them often and tie them to stakes so they don’t flop over and break. The little yellow flower that blooms is a promise of a delicious tomato. My vegetable garden is planted for one reason – to eat the fruits of my labor. However, my roses are planted simply to indulge my senses of sight and smell.
The first week after I planted my roses I watched them carefully to make sure they rooted deeply and were getting enough nourishment from the soil. I watered them and fed them special rose food. All of the blossoms were so beautiful. Some of the roses were opened and seemed to have reached their maximum potential. I always cut those mature buds off -- as their beauty was starting to fade – to save enough nourishment for the new blossoms.
One day when I was taking time to smell the roses, literally, I noticed that a beautiful rose’s stem had been broken. It was still that crimson red, so I carefully snipped it off and brought it inside. I hated to throw it away, so I brought it in to enjoy it by myself. I filled a small vase and put the single rose in my kitchen window. It looked beautiful there – although it would have looked nicer outside as part of the rosebush with all the other colors surrounding it, where everyone could enjoy its beauty.
Just the other day I was weeding my gardens and I noticed a perfect rose blooming. It was ivory white with perfect form. It didn’t have one blemish and was the perfect size. I knew it had a little more growing to do, but it was so flawless I hated for it to get too big and wanted



to maintain that flawlessness. The ivory rose was beautiful, probably one of the most beautiful roses I had ever seen. In my own self-indulgence I snipped the rose off the bush. I wanted it to be in my kitchen where I could look at it every time I washed a dish or cooked a meal. I filled my favorite small cobalt blue vase with warm water and gently placed the rose inside. The rose sat perfectly in the tiny opening, making my heart smile every time I looked at it. The slight rose aroma was just enough to give me a whiff of joy.
I have a sense of pride in my work -- the things I start from scratch or take on as a project. I like to see my efforts rewarded by a mouth-watering tomato or a breathtaking rose. I think one of the most important rewards is the comments I get from passersby. The thumbs-up from someone who knows plants gives me a sense of accomplishment. The other reward is more valuable than I can explain: I know that because of my labor and sweat these things can grow. I have the power to decide what stays in my garden and what goes. While I know that letting things stay on the vine will continue to nourish and grow them, I sometimes want all the beauty to myself – like my ivory rose in the window of my kitchen.

I feel like God does the same thing with us. He gives us life and helps us grow. He nurtures us with parents and loved ones. He gives us food and prunes out the bad things that might hinder us from growing. But at times, I think the Lord wants us all to Himself. Maybe it is to protect us like the broken stem, and maybe it is because He just loves us so much that he wants to put us on His windowsill.
God knows when He will call us home. At times we sense when we will be snipped off the rosebush – like when our stem is broken, we can feel God coming to take us home. However, sometimes being cut-off from the bush is not foreseeable and comes out of the blue, simply because He wants our beauty for Himself. Occasionally, he takes us before we mature as he wants to preserve our beauty and innocence. God gave us all a purpose on this earth; we just don’t always know what that purpose is. With God in control we don’t always have to understand His reasons for taking the small rosebuds, we just need to know that it was for a reason we may never understand on this side of the cross. We are the roses, the world is the bush, God is the “farmer,” and our lives are in His hands.

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