DON’T PICK THE FLOWERS

“Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.——It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.”–Psalm 119:67, 71   Some have learned that something bad can produce something good. We don’t usually see it at the time, but later it becomes apparent.   A little girl was walking in a garden when she saw a beautiful flower. She picked it because she felt it was too pretty to be in the dirt. She then took it home and washed it off, but it quickly wilted and died. When the gardener saw what she had done, he said,”You have destroyed my finest plant!” The tearful little girl said,” I’m sorry, but I didn’t like it in all that dirt.” The gardener replied, “I chose that spot and mixed the soil because I knew that only there could it grow to be a beautiful flower.”   So it is in the garden of life. God knows exactly what we need, although we do not understand. While we would rather avoid pain and suffering it is sometimes the only thing that draws us to God or helps us become more like God. Yes it hurts, and no we don’t understand, but it is true. Someday, when we mature or when we graduate to glory, we will see the benefit. Until then we must trust the One who cannot lie.   “It would be better if we could learn without suffering”, you say.Yes and it would be better if we lived in a world that had not been tainted by sin, but we don’t. This is where we are and sometimes this is what it takes to get us where we need to be. Someday you will see that it is true. What you are going through might be painful, unfair, overwhelming and confusing, but the day will come when will look back and see that God created some good out of your experience. Ask God to give you the grace to accept your trial and the strength to keep going. He will do it.