Short Stories

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The Sermon of the Daisy
Shared by Patricia Backora, author of the book
Tough Love in Christ’s Millennium
Which you can order online from: http://www.publishamerica.com
Matthew 6:25-34; Luke 12: 22-32

“In conclusion,” intoned the staid-looking preacher, “remember this timeworn old adage: ‘God helps those who helps themselves.’ So reflect on that pearl of wisdom before you visit my counseling office. Your problems are usually of your own making, and you’ll get little sympathy from me. I’m an ordained minister of the Gospel, not a shoulder to cry on, and certainly not a nursemaid for 30-and-40-year-old kids in business suits who ought to grow up and bear up more gracefully under the minor vexations of life; people who ought to be applying more elbow grease to their prayers. As one grand old hymn exhorts us: ‘Shall I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease, while others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas?”

The young woman could hardly see to drive home, her eyes were so teary.

“What’s the matter, Mommy?” her little girl asked.

“Oh, nothing,” said her mother, unwilling to burden her child with the truth. “It’s just one of those days.”

In reality she was thinking: How dare he take his frustrations out on us. Sure he’s tired of having such a heavy counselling load, but if he had to keep a schedule like mine....the office, the traffic, the grocery store, the housework, the kids’ homework, their baths, the cooking, the ironing, the endless errands...she gnashed her teeth.

When the little family got out of the car, the lady unloaded her bags of after-church shopping. She tripped and dropped a big bag on the lawn. Noticing her mother was more annoyed than ever, her daughter ran over to help. In the process she noticed a cluster of daisies at their feet.

“Oh, look, Mommy!” the little girl cried. “Aren’t they pretty? We learned about the flowers in Sunday School today, how God loves the green grass so much he decorates it with pretty little flowers even if busy people like us don’t have time to grow our own from seeds.”

It was then the sun came out for the burdened woman. At that moment she remembered the Sunday School lessons of her own childhood, and recaptured her own long-forgotten wonderment at the marvels of God's creation. Smiling happily, she hugged her daughter and son. “Yes,” she sang, “and God loves us too, sweetie, much more than the flowers and grass.”

But that wasn’t the end of the story. When she had a few minutes to herself, she got out an exhaustive Biblical concordance and searched for the scripture: “God helps those who help themselves.” Had Christ come to earth, she wondered, just to add His own feeble bit to her ceaseless struggle to live according to God's Word, or had He really come to redeem weak people like herself ? Those who had reached the utter end of her tether and had to confess: “You’ve got to do it all, Lord, or my life will be a failure. If your life in me fails, then I cannot overcome the difficulties of this life."

She looked and she looked, researching the key word “help” in the big concordance. She made some very wonderful discoveries there, such as: “God is my refuge and God is my strength, a very present help in trouble”.

But to her utter delight, that other “scripture” simply wasn’t in there.

She simply didn’t have to worry about it anymore.

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