Flowers = Life

I received flowers as a gift today. They arrived at an unexpected time and from an unexpected source. They are lovely! I love gifts of flowers. I know the opinions of some say that fresh flowers can be an overrated gift because eventually they die. To that argument I say, “So…”

So what if they die? Their life, no matter how short, is a gift.

I have memories of flowers. My mother always cherished flowers, in the garden and on the rare occasion as a gift. I remember being maybe 10-11 years old and allowed to walk to the corner store with a friend. Next to the little store was a greenhouse and flower shop. One afternoon leading up to Mother’s Day I scrounged up $3.00 and purchased for my mother a basket of Pansies just ready for planting. There were maybe 10 plants in the cute oblong basket. Such a deal! I was so proud to be able to purchase the gift and hide it by the side of the garage and then giving the basket to her was the best thing ever!

Of course at the close of summer the flowers died, but what joy they brought for weeks and weeks!

Isn’t that a little like our lives? On this earth we cannot live forever. Just as a flower might have a time line for life, so do we. Our days are numbered by God rather like Mother Nature numbering the amount of time a plant may have. The best part of the gift of flowers is the joy they bring. The best part of our lives is the joy we will glean from year to year and unlike the Pansy or other flowers, when our life ends, a new one begins.

Thanks be to God.