In our back flower beds we have two patches of Tiger
Lilies. They were there when we bought
this house 15 years ago. Every spring
they faithfully poke their shoots out of the ground and quickly grow. Sometime in early to middle July they burst
into bloom, with their bright orange color taking center stage for several
weeks.
This year was no exception, but somehow I thought
they didn’t appear to be as strong and as vibrant as in other years. They bloomed later this year, too. They just didn’t seem to be the same old
Tiger Lilies that we had enjoyed in previous years.
A couple weeks ago we had a thunderstorm during the
night. Between having the windows
closed, the air conditioner running, and the dulling effect of sleep, it was
hard to tell just how strong the wind blew or how hard the rain fell. I got up that morning, and as soon as
daylight hit I opened the kitchen blinds.
Instantly I saw it……the patch of Tiger Lilies, stripped bare of their
pretty petals and standing there with nothing but their fading leaves. The storm had blown off all the petals. They looked stark and ugly in the morning
light.
Every single Tiger Lily stalk was stripped bare of
its beauty……except for one. There in the
midst of all the sad stalks was one lone Tiger Lily that still carried its
orange petals. It was actually only one
part of a stalk, but there it was, alone with its blooms…….standing tall in the
midst of all the damage surrounding it.
That lonely Tiger Lily stood there for days, even
through several other storms, with its petals intact. And every time I looked at it I thought of a
verse and I pondered the lessons that this little Tiger Lily was teaching
me. The verse: “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of
His might.” And the lessons are many.
I’ve never seen a time when so many are so
burdened. I see it in the world……ISIS,
Syria, Gaza and Israel, Ferguson…..I don’t need to keep that list going. Even the death of Robin Williams hit many
people deeply. It’s exhausting to watch
the news.
And then closer to home, in our own families and
lives, so many are facing issues of deep concern. Death, illness, financial hardship, marital
stress, worries about children, pressures of all sorts, hurts and
disappointments……
I don’t mean to sound depressing, but this is just
how life is right now for so many. And
even for those of us who walk by faith, who trust in the Lord, who try to lean
on Him for our needs…..we can find ourselves overwhelmed and ready to just give
up. We feel as battered as my bare Tiger
Lilies……like our beautiful petals are just about to turn loose and leave us
stark and alone. Why read our
Bibles? The words seem empty. Why pray?
I don’t feel like God is listening and my mind wanders. Why obey?
Where has it gotten me?
These are lies of Satan. These are his ways of stripping us of our
beauty that Christ has given us, just like my ugly Tiger Lilies that I saw that
morning. I find it very interesting that
Paul, when he was encouraging the Philippians to keep maturing in their faith,
told them to press forward……to forget what’s behind and to reach toward what
lies ahead.
There’s my single Tiger Lily again……standing up and
standing strong no matter what was going on around it. Even when all the other Tiger Lilies let go
and gave up, this one stood strong…….like he was pressing forward instead of
going backward. And that’s what we need
to do. Don’t give up when things get
tough! Stay true to God…….keep reading
His word…….keep praying…….keep obeying…..keep walking in His ways…….keep
trusting. We may not feel like it. We may be tired and discouraged. We may even doubt God. But don’t go backward…..keep going
forward.
It reminds me of a verse from the old hymn, The
Solid Rock:
His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
Stand tall.
Stand strong. Look forward. And keep your petals on!
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