June 2018 Articles

Archives by Months

Spiritual Corner: Blooming Faith

Spiritual Corner: Blooming Faith

I received a rose bush this year and was very excited to plant it and have beautiful roses. However, I got caught up in the business of life and my rose bush sat beside my porch, in the plastic pot it was purchased in, for at least a week. One day, I eventually got around to planting it in the ground. I began watering it daily like I was supposed to, but unfortunately, its little roses started dying off day by day. The whole plant itself did not seem to be looking very good. Even my dad told me that he didn’t have high hopes for my little rose bush. However, I continued to water the rose bush faithfully, just hoping it wouldn’t die off completely. One evening, whenever I went to water and check my plants, I noticed a tiny bit of new, green growth on my rose bush. At the end of the green growth, there was a tiny, green bud. I was so excited! As I continued to tend to my rose bush over the next several days, I noticed other new growth appearing on the bush. I also noticed the little bud growing and starting to open slightly. One morning whenever I went out to check my plants, I saw my little bud had bloomed into a small, vibrant, red rose, right in the middle of the bush. I thought it was the most beautiful rose I had ever laid eyes on.
There are several ways that this little story about my rose bush can be applied to our spiritual walk. Whenever we neglect our faith, just like I neglected my rose bush for about a week, then our faith will begin to grow weak and parts will begin to possibly even disappear or die off. Whenever we nurture our faith, on the other hand, we make room for new growth in our spiritual lives, just like the new growth on the rose bush due to the water it received. This story can also be applied to our witnessing to others. There are a whole lot of people in this world who have been neglected, whose faith is dead or dying, and who a lot of people look at judgingly as having little hope. However, God saw the sinful and dying parts of us and sent His only Son, Jesus, to come and give us new life. So whenever we see those people who have a dying or dead faith and who the world has labeled as having no hope, we need to nurture them. Just like I began to water my dying rose bush faithfully, we need to pray for these people faithfully and care for them in any way possible. Whenever I chose not to give up on my rose bush, and I chose to nurture it and have faith that it would persevere, guess what happened? It DID persevere. In fact, it produced new growth and it was even more beautiful than the old. If we nurture those people who need faith in Jesus, and if we love them and pray for them, and have faith that God will work in their lives, then they too can produce new growth in their faith and their blooming faith will be so beautiful to see! Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection is the very reason that we are not left as wilted, and dying individuals, but instead have new growth in our faith and have the opportunity to be Children of God, who are as beautiful as my little rose! --Dana Alexander