Good-Byes, The Rose, And The Crab

Good-byes, the Rose, and the Crab

By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com

Text:

Isa. 35:1 The desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.

Luke 12:27 Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his

glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Flowers have many good lessons. I hold two long stem roses in my hand,one is a rose in bloom, the other a tight bud,

and I talk to the rose. I look around and note all the flowers here whispering love and hope.

I hate good-byes, no matter what you call them.

As a little boy we visited my Great Grandfather Moses in Jellico, TN. Jellico is on I-75 on the Kentucky-Tennessee border.

We had driven down from Cincinnati, Ohio to visit. I really loved him and he was so fun to be around. We spent a few days

with Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Moses. We could always feel love there.

It was time to leave and we were saying our farewells and good-byes, and I could not find my Great Grandfather, he disappeared.

I looked and looked for him, and I couldn’t find him anywhere. I went to the outhouse, and no grandpa? I went to the smoke

house and no grandpa, I just couldn’t find him to say good-bye and give him a hug. We loaded up in the car, a 1956 green and

white Mercury, and started down the gravel road for home.

I was looking out the back window, and I saw Great Grandpa Moses standing in the corn patch, with his head bowed low.

I asked Dad to stop the car so I could run and hug Grandpa good-bye.

Dad refused to stop and kept driving. Dad told me Farewells were sometimes painful, and some people never liked to say

good-bye. Dad went on to say, Son, you don’t understand what I am saying today, but someday you will understand this very well.

I did not understand at all. For many years I did not understand what my Dad was saying.

One day, I was 18, we loaded up and went to the airport, my older brother was going to Viet Nam. We had friends that left and

never returned from this combat zone.

I felt tears in my aching heart, and I understood what my Grandpa felt that day in the corn patch. I went to the bathroom and stayed

until his plane taxied down the run way.

In August, 1997, I played my guitar and sang How Great Thou Art, I turned and watched my Dad move to the pulpit, and he spoke

for my Mom’s funeral, and I understood how painful it was to say farewell to my Mother. My Mom’s blanket is the sod, her grave

overlooks the State Capital and the Governor’s Mansion, but I had to say good-bye Mom.

I understood what my Dad had warned me about many years ago about my Great Grandpa Moses hiding when we left.

Revelations 21 records "7 NO MORES." No more pain, no more sea to spawn storms and separate us, no more death, no more

sorrow, no more crying, no more curse, and NO MORE SAD FAREWELLS.

A red rose whispers of passion and love. Hear the rose whisper of the greatness of God.

I often hold a long stem rose in my hand, and I talk to the rose. I tell how beautiful the rose is.

The red reminds me how much Jesus loves me. Red reminds me of blood and the power of life. Red reminds me of forgiveness

and life. Jesus shed his blood for us.

I talk about the green being a symbol of growth. I tell about how the leaf gives itself to the support of the plant.

I talk about the thorns role in the protection of the plant. If you take a rose, you will also have to take the thorns, they are a package

deal. I tell how the thorn is a direct product of the fall from grace, thorns are part of the curse. Often the sweetness of life is

interrupted by some painful thorn.

We don’t throw away roses because they have thorns, we focus on the beauty, not just the pain.

I tell about those that have caught a vision into the eternal and have reported how beautiful the rose’s are in heaven, and they

have reported to us that the roses in heaven do not have any thorns. The restoration of the plan of God.

The Crown that Jesus wore on earth was a Crown of thorns. There is a valuable lesson in this crown, for all a thorn is ---

it is an involuted leaf. ( in-VO -lute-d.)

This involuted leaf is just a leaf wrapped up in itself,life has a way of getting us to withdraw in some painful questions, when