Grass and Flowers

The wildflowers have overtaken both shoulders of the dirt road where I live. When I walk there, I watch bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds thriving on the pollen.

It is a blessing to step out the front door into so much fragrant beauty. Whether the sun is shining on them or hail and wind batter them, the flowers show all the glory of God’s care and provision.

They’re a picture of humanity. All our glory is as the flowers of grass, but winter will come. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God remains forever.

This word is the Good News that was preached to us.

It’s the Good News that gives us immortality. The Gospel is the way He cares for us eternally.

A car whizzed past those wildflowers on its way to my house with the intention to do harm this week.

In those moments of suspense and danger, we were like wildflowers whipping in the wind of an oncoming storm. Would we be uprooted? Would hail break us? Would floods rise?

But the Good News was our strength, shield, and shelter. Jesus never changes, no matter the danger, and His promise still holds true.

Earlier this summer, I spoke at a local Bible camp. Their theme was “Strength and Shield,” and I thought about all that I had taught in those moments of uncertainty. The Lord was giving me the opportunity to practice what I preach. 

He also was reminding me who the wildflowers belong to.

And when I remember that His Word remains forever as the Good News that has saved, transformed, and sustained me, I know I have nothing to fear. I know that it is Good News that even my enemies need to hear.

I can be still and know that He is God.

And when I do, I know that even though the flowers will fall, the glory they gave to God will last. Even if I die, I will live because the Word of the Good News endures forever. “In God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

Later that day, I drove past the wildflowers, still standing, waving in the breeze, to go and share the Good News of Jesus with children in my neighborhood. As we sang together to Jesus, our Rescuer, our Maker, I noticed that the children were waving like wildflowers, bringing glory to God with the sun shining on them. 

They were worshiping the one, true God, who alone could take the frailty of the grass and flowers and transform it into the power and strength to be His witnesses who plant the seeds for others to grow up into eternal life.

No matter what storm or disaster comes, flowers that bear fruit for eternity can’t be mown down. Jesus is our light and salvation. Whom shall we fear?

And if you’re looking for these wildflower seeds, I can tell you where to find them: the imperishable seed is found in the living and abiding word of God.