Flowers From Unlikely Sources
In 2005 I spent several weeks in India working among the poor and the lower caste children and families that live there. It was a wonderfully heart wrenching experience. There is nothing like coming back home mentally wrecked and painfully aware that the problems we think we have in life here, are nothing in comparison to those who I had the honor of serving in India.
On one particular day we went to a “slum church” that was in one of the harder areas to work in in the city. It smelled, it was dirty, it was 120 degrees, basically it was just misearable. The streets were lined with vagrants, the little ashphalt that was provided was broken up and the road was very uneven. Even walking had it’s dangers.
As we walked toward the church I could not help but notice a wonderful smell of fresh flowers. It was in stark contrast to the smell of death and pain all around us. What I slowly began to realize was that out in front of the church was a wonderful patch of flowers that were thriving and growing and they were absolutely georgeous. I was shocked to see something so sweet and inviting in the midst of the living circumstances I was seeing.
After a little bit of inqiring and looking around I realized that the reason that the ground in front of the church was so fertile was because the open latrine sewer system (I use the term system lightly) drained down a hill and at the bottom of the hill was the church. The ground around the church was made fertile by the waste products being slowly eliminated and ending up in the ground around the church. I can not help but think of this as a wonderful metaphor for the Christian life.
As we walk through life and all we see is pain and suffering and dare I say “waste” that we think are useless parts of the life we have been leading, we must remember that these things act as fertilizer for our life going forward. We may not see it now, we may not see it next month, but as we journey through the life that we lead we will begin to see those things bear fruit. All it takes is time, patience, and a commitment to a church that can guide you and lead you in bearing those good fruits. Before you know it the pile of rubbish and pain you once had in your heart and mind are transformed into the glorious garden that Christ comes and walks in and calls your name and says “come and walk with me my child”.
- Thoughts about Life , Thoughts on God's people
- Comments(8)
Man, what an amazing piece this is. Thank you for this.
I…don’t know what to say to it. A part of me is horrified. Another part inspired. I’m speechless.
I will feature this piece at the High Calling blog site today.
http://HighCallingBlogs.com
It’s a shocking image really. A church built on a foundation of human sewage? It’s a shocking, redemptive metaphor. But it also makes me feel guilty about my own complacency.
Somehow, Zimbio submitted this to the Stone Crossings Book Club wiki…
http://www.zimbio.com/Stone+Crossings/articles/102/Flowers+From+Unlikely+Sources
So I commented on it over there. : )
Btw, no worries on the wiki thing.
And I read over on Lilies Have Dreams that you had another scare. I’m so sorry. This is a hard road.
Before you know it the pile of rubbish and pain you once had in your heart and mind are transformed into the glorious garden that Christ comes and walks in and calls your name and says “come and walk with me my child”……..
I cried sitting at work reading this. It is so beautiful and true! I don’t even know how I feel right now. All my heart is earning to hear “come and walk with me my child {let’s talk}”……..
This was awesome thank you so much for sharing with us
Today I was thinking with on how we are called to think on the beautiful, the lovely… and so we try to create the beautiful and the lovely, elevated and pristine…
And yet, Jesus came and found the beautiful and lovely in the broken and the battered, the stench and the sin. He saw souls as beautiful. And died for them.
Am I willing to wade into what the world may see as ugly because Jesus sees something of value and beauty embedded deep within?
Your post speaks powerfully…
My humble thanks,
Ann
[...] As we walked toward the church I could not help but notice a wonderful smell of fresh flowers. It was in stark contrast to the smell of death and pain all around us. What I slowly began to realize was that out in front of the church was a wonderful patch of flowers that were thriving and growing and they were absolutely gorgeous. I was shocked to see something so sweet and inviting in the midst of the living circumstances I was seeing. Read More [...]
[...] As we walked toward the church I could not help but notice a wonderful smell of fresh flowers. It was in stark contrast to the smell of death and pain all around us. What I slowly began to realize was that out in front of the church was a wonderful patch of flowers that were thriving and growing and they were absolutely gorgeous. I was shocked to see something so sweet and inviting in the midst of the living circumstances I was seeing. Read More [...]