The Flower

“He will blossom like a lily” (Hosea 14:5)

He was a French explorer and archaeologist in the late 1800s.  His name was Claude-Joseph-Desire Charnay.  You would think people would leave an explorer and archaeologist to himself and let him dig around in the dirt.  However, Charnay provoked the wrath of Napoleon Bonaparte.  I don’t know what set the little guy off, perhaps Charnay dug up one of his prize rose bushes in his flower bed in Paris.  At any rate, Napoleon had Claude thrown into prison. 

But that is just the beginning of the story I want to tell you.  In prison, Charnay took a rock and scratched on the stone cell wall “nobody cares.”  Obviously, he was at the lowest point of his life, feeling disheartened and forsaken.  But then, one day through the stones of the dungeon floor, a small green shoot appeared.  Slowly it began reaching up to the light through the tiny window of his prison cell.  Charnay was so touched by this, that he kept part of his daily ration of water for the plant, pouring a small amount of water over the sprout.  The plant began to grow until it became a beautiful blue flower.  The day the flower fully blossomed, Charnay crossed out the words “Nobody cares” and replaced them with “God cares.”  On hearing about Charnay and his flower, Empress Josephine was so impressed with his devotion to the flower that she persuaded Napoleon to set him free.

Charnay’s freedom was found in seeing the beauty of God in the ugliness of life.  There is so much ugliness in our world today.  We see it around us.  We read it in the newspapers and on social media.  We hear it on the newscasts.  It all makes life look rather hopeless.  But if a prisoner in a dark dungeon could find the love and hope of God, how much more can you and I find his love and hope in the middle of our circumstances – no matter how despairing things appear.

If your situation looks bleak.  If the people in your life seem to be going in the wrong direction.  If you find yourself in a dungeon of despair, I encourage you to take a new fresh look around you.  There it is – see it?  A tiny tender green shoot called hope in Christ.  It is breaking through the stones of your dungeon floor.  It wants to reach up to the light of Christ.  All you need do is water it with a little bit of faith and hope in Christ’s promises.  Then watch as it reaches up to the light through the tiny window of your prison cell.  Now wait for it, for soon it will become a beautiful blue flower of love and hope.  A special blessing just for you – from your Father.

                                                     Darlene