Christmas Tea Part 2...

Today I want to finish the subject I started yesterday … how people and God’s promises are like roses in many ways…

People have a tendency to want to do things their own way… force open the rose before it is time for it to bloom, but when we do, we really mess it up. If we do mess things up, but turn and ask Him for help, God will graciously come and do a miracle a lot of times IF we humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, repent and turn from our sins. Remember, sin is doing what we aren’t supposed to do according to God’s Word, OR not doing what we ARE supposed to do.

Wouldn’t it be better to follow Him from the beginning, and “let the rose open” in HIS time instead of messing things up first and THEN asking for His help.

If you have a Rosebud that God has given you… a person that He has given you to love:; a friend, child, husband, etc., that you want to see in full bloom NOW, remember the Rose of Sharon that was given to Mary… He grew in God’s time… He had to FEEL the thorns to know what they feel like to us, and He is STILL patiently waiting on GOD’S time to receive the fulfillment of HIS destiny… To become that King that will bring peace to this world…

It must be hard for Him to see all the sin and suffering that is going on down here, but Jesus is waiting until God is ready to take the Roses from the garden in this world to the banquet feast of Heaven…

We need to trust God to bring that Rosebud that we love to its full bloom… We are the gardeners and caretakers, as the first man was in God’s garden… Maybe we were always meant to be caretakers of the things that God gives us to do… We are to: water by giving them the living water of life, through our modeling, feed by teaching them the Word of God, and pull out some weeds (like when our kids are little and we are bringing them up before they leave our care.

One thing, though, that we need to remember is that God said that once the weeds have grown up with the wheat, and become part of the field, HE will do the reaping and separating in their lives. All children will sin and have to make their own choices as they grow up, but even after they leave OUR care… they never leave HIS!

We are to continue to do our part of the job: water -- feed -- care for (show HIS love through our lives) those Roses. We need to be VERY careful about pruning (judging), and let the MASTER gardener do that part of the gardening.


Sometimes, as we tend the Roses that God has given us to tend, we may get pricked by the thorns, but that doesn’t mean that we should quit tending them… They still need the water and food of God’s love to come to full bloom. This is very important to remember, especially if you do foster care.

Roses are beautiful when they are cared for properly. Wouldn’t you love to be able to put a beautiful Rose, or two… or a dozen… in our Lord’s hands…when He calls us to that Heavenly Banquet?

Roses are to share as well… Once they have bloomed in our hearts… like the promises of God’s Love, Joy, Peace, the gardener usually gives them to others to enrich their lives. Go and pour out the perfume of the Rose of Sharon on those lives He brings to you, and don’t show them the thorns of self…