God’s Gift of Flowers

by Barbara Linton

Flowers are used for many occasions.

Gold and white flowers and complementary greenery were used in an Easter floral arrangement in our St Patrick’s Te Awamutu church, celebrating the glory of the risen Lord, Jesus.

The flowers were a glorious display radiating light, colour and beauty. The arrangement was symmetrical, balanced, yet free-flowing, a credit to the talented person who arranged it and a gift to all who admired it.

Each flower was unique and each was the best flower that it could be, communicating God’s life, peace and joy to those who could look deeper than their eyes could see.

Some flowers were big and showy, others smaller and less noticeable. On their own, some hardly seen. Yet each one and piece of greenery was needed in the arrangement to balance and perfect it. All together they were a still and silent, yet moving and melodious symphony of praise.

Every flower beginning life as a tiny seedling, needed to push up through earth and respond to touches of sunlight and gentle rains to survive and grow. They had to withstand dry times and the force of storms without breaking free from their stems’ life-giving sap.

What can God, through flowers, teach us, the Communion of Saints, about his Kingdom?

Like each flower, each of us is special and unique with talents, beauty and life, and as individuals and community are needed to bring healing, life and balance to our world.

We too need gentle touches to grow so as to withstand dry times and storms – often bending to the limit of their weight but never breaking free from Christ, the Vine we cling to for nourishment in the Eucharist.

What is a saint? A saint is one who tries to be the best person he or she can be; the one who is true to self, the one accepting oneself as he or she is, giving glory to God, by radiating his love, joy and peace to others amidst life’s struggles and joys, thus furthering God’s Kingdom on earth.

Each day is a gift, another opportunity to live, love, and explore and reflect on what God, using nature, can teach us about the spiritual in this garden called earth.