Springtime in Seattle is a sight for sore, soggy eyes.  The dark drapery of evergreens backdrops an outburst of reds, pinks, yellows, whites, lavenders and blues.  Gardeners and passersby exchange smiles as they ogle radiant “rhodies,” dazzling azaleas, Japanese cherry blossoms and a rainbow of early-riser forsythia and magnolias. These eye-popping, fragrant, new flora are welcomed by choruses of returning robins and other Canada-bound frequent flyers.

Interesting that our Creator unveiled His artistic, floral gift in a garden and referred to Himself as “the Rose of Sharon” and the “Lily of the Valley.”  Roses are admired universally; lilies are praised for their purity.  Those who love and follow this Rose are themselves a multi-colored bouquet, plucked from diverse soils of sin and made pure in God’s sight by His grace and their faith.

This heavenly Rose and Lily invites you to come back to the garden, choose to root your life in Him, then bloom where you’re planted.

Friend, this bud’s for you.