Flower Quickly Fading

Jas 1:10  But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. 

11  For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. 

Our writer's group was prompted to write about Bluebonnets. Here is my attempt as a non-botanist kind of guy.

Bluebonnets. It does fit this passage.

These frail, but beautiful, flowers are the state flower of Texas, which is odd since Texas is seen as a strong, enduring state. You might have thought they would have chosen something more sturdy and able to be seen year long so tourism would be more consistent than a big rush for a couple of weeks in the Spring.

I am not a botanist and have very little interest in such things but I like flowers and plants that are red. The bluebonnets do remind me of the Bonnie Blue flag that is a part of our heritage. I do like seeing these come and go plants. I do not rush out to have a picture taken with them.

I just glance at them as I drive by partly because rattlesnakes like to hide in them and I have no desire to smell the flower and hear a rattle. The only good snake is a dead snake in my mind, but out of respect I stay out of their territory and want them to stay out of mine.

Being I am not a flower kind of guy being asked to write something about bluebonnets is a bit of a challenge. I decided to see an analogy of life in this flower. Indeed, usually the most beautiful part of life is often our Spring, which is 15 to 25. It is when we are often most vibrant with our dreams and our pursuits. It is when we want to impress and we put on our best attire and colognes. It goes quickly and from our blossom to fade and death seems like a few weeks to us as time flies by faster as we age.

The length of time we last is not really important if we can make as large an impact as this frail flower. Billions of pictures have been taken with them and millions of miles traveled to see them. They bring joy and wonder to people of all ages as well as fond memories. It is the memories I see as the most important. Even though we are so soon gone if we make a beautiful impact on the world through the lives we touch we never die. People take mental photographs of us and make memories. If we make our life fragrant, people are attracted to us so more and more photographs and memories are made.

When we pass from the scene people will look at many of those photographs and recall those memories and if they are beautiful, fragrant ones we in a sense come back every year in their mind as things prompt us to reflect on those mental pictures allowing us to live on. Some people unfortunately are like ragweed, which is sturdier and also perennial, but does not nearly make a good as picture or memory because it is an irritant. No one takes pictures in ragweed or buys seeds to plant it at home.

Thus our challenge is to avoid being ragweed and be more like the bluebonnets that are in one sense terribly frail and mortal. But in another sense are enduring for many decades to come. How is your fragrance? Are you bringing forth beauty or are you causing nothing but irritation with your life? We may be in the summer, fall or winter of our life, but unlike the bluebonnet we can change our fragrance and appearance bringing joy to those we love and even those who might not love us.

Sometimes even a faint fragrance can entice a person to want a bigger and longer sniff. A glance of beauty may become impelling and change the direction of a person's thoughts. Maybe a bluebonnet is not as frail as we might surmise by its life span because it has great power to move people. Indeed, let us be like it so that we draw people to us and bless them with what we may see as frail beauty, but can change the lives of many for the good. Maranatha!