A Moment To Praise 6.1.20
Joyce Lochinger, Gravel Hill Worship Leader
Last week, I talked about taking a walk around my neighborhood and taking in the beauty of nature. Taking photos of flowers and shrubbery is a great way to honor and pay attention to God and His creativity all around us. During this past week’s walks, I found myself focusing on the beautiful irises that are blooming along my route. These flowers have a distinct fragrance like no other flower or plant that I can think of. While taking some pictures and smelling their sweet aroma, I was taken back to my childhood days and the feeling of the beginning of summertime.
Flower Specialist
For the record, my mother is a flower specialist! She has an amazing ability to grow flowers; even beautiful violets from leaves. She used to keep a few large flower gardens growing & flourishing while she kept two large vegetable gardens healthy at the same time. As if growing all of that wasn’t enough, she used all of these vegetables to feed her family of six. She still has one of the greenest thumbs known to man! I feel that she took all of the green and left none for me. A plant or flower that enters my home never leaves again! 😊
Anyway, when I was little, my mom had a long area of iris plants, or ‘flags’ as she called them. These ‘flags’ ran all around the side of our house, running the entire length of our yard. They were yellow, white, purple, peach, and several double colors that looked very exotic. She was always so proud of those flowers and often told my friends and me that these plants were special. She even requested that we please not pick them or make “stew” out of them. As all country kids know, flowers and water make the best pretend food around!😊
She always reminded me of how delicate the irises were and how intricately God had made them. I began to start having a deep appreciation for these lovely flowers and would sneak around to the side of the house just to touch and smell them. The layers upon layers of velvet-like petals that would unfurl always fascinated me. Each day I would check on them and smell their fragrant perfume. Every day I’d check, they had opened a bit more, showing more of the beautiful bloom! What amazing creations!
A Moment To Praise 6.1.20 in Scripture
“I will be like dew to the people of Israel. They will blossom like flowers. They will be firmly rooted like cedars from Lebanon. They will be like growing branches. They will be beautiful like olive trees. They will be fragrant like cedars from Lebanon.” Hosea 14:5-6
Think about what God is saying in this scripture. He will be His people’s nourishment and we, His people, will blossom like flowers. We will become fragrant, sweet, and pleasing to the world for God’s namesake. That’s my paraphrasing. However, I truly feel that this is our purpose as ordained by God!
He created all living beings from the littlest of things to the intricate and amazing workmanship of the human body. Let’s make it a goal to live into the expectations of God and not into the patterns of the world. Let us be fragrant, sweet, and pleasing. Let people know that we belong to God and not to this world.
I love this quote from Martin Luther comparing scripture to the nature that God created:
“God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars.” – Martin Luther
A Moment To Praise 6.1.20 in Song
Listen to this beautiful song that tells of God’s creation and His love!
Creation Calls
Have a great week! God Bless!
