Beauty surrounds us, but we usually need to be walking in a garden to know it - Rumi
The garden is quiet at this time of year. It has been a very mild winter so far; the temperature on Christmas Day was 15°(C), which probably makes it the warmest on record. Some plants are not quite sure whether to come into leaf or not whilst there are still bright red berries on the firethorn for the birds; in the main though everything is a bit dull and drab. Resting before bursting into new life in Spring.
Last year our grandchildren gave us a pot plant for Christmas, a hellebore, more commonly known as the Christmas rose. A lovely gift from children we love. Now one of the problems with buying pot plants as presents on special occasions is that they tend to be “forced” by the growers to produce a beautiful flower at purchase but without the depth of strength to grow on afterwards. We enjoyed our present and when the flowers had died off we kept it in its pot until the weather was a bit warmer when we planted it out in the garden. I must admit we did not have great hopes for it but we cared for it as best we could. This Christmas morning we looked out of the window to see amidst the gloom a beautiful pure white little flower on our Christmas rose! Right on cue it came into bloom! Truly a light shining in the darkness around it! In my delight another thought came to me. What a wonderful gift a pot plant can be – a gift that keeps on giving year after year. That, of course, brings to mind God’s greatest gift to us: ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ John 3:16 KJV Thanks be to God for such a wonderful gift!
1 Comment
Steve Givens
27/12/2016 02:34:06 pm
A gift in bleak midwinter...the best kind!
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AuthorI am an Authorised Local Preacher in an Anglo Catholic parish church, in the Diocese of Essex UK Archives
February 2022
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