Loosing our Rose’s buds for the Master’s Bouquet?
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr.
Kyfingers@aol.com
I did this for a funeral but this is easily adapted for a lesson on living.
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 lessons.
I hold a long stem rose in my hand, and I talk to the rose.
I look around and note all the flowers here whispering love and hope.
Funeral of one taken before their time, or a lesson on daily living.
A red rose whispers of passion and love.
Hear her 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.
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 protection of the plant.
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. Restoration of the plan of God.
I then talk about 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 away of getting us to withdraw in some painful questions, when we should launch out in the deep.
Jesus wore a crown that represented the selfishness of a man’s heart.
The next time we will see Jesus, He will not have a crown of painful thorns, but his will be a crown of jewels of gold.
The crowns we see in heaven will be laid at our Savior’s feet, not crowns of selfishness but crowns given to our HOPE of the Ages.
There is a ROSE among the thorns.
I talk about how brief the beauty of a rose is.
Life is like a spider’s web... so weak and frail.
Life is like a vapor, it is here and so gone.
Life is temporary at best ....
Psalms 90:12 SO TEACH ME TO NUMBER MY DAYS ....
We all head toward death at 60 minutes an hour, 1440 minutes a day.
Are we spending our time wisely?
Any Master gardener grows several kinds of flowers, if he is serious he will have many roses growing. The Master knows when to prune his flowers.
But the Master Gardener knows the roses have a purpose.
The rose might just be grown to adore a beautiful wedding of two hearts coming together as one.
I look at the rose and express it’s beauty to the eye, but this rose was cut for more than the eyes, it was cut to express the heart of love.
Some roses will be cut in full bloom, but any good gardener knows, some roses will be cut as buds. The gardener knew when he planted the rose bush, this will be used
to express LOVE, and the plan was all along, someday you will be cut for the Master will have need of your beauty.
Will you ponder this?
... But I want you to ponder this.
God has a plan.
Faith learns to trust the plan of the Master Gardener.
Faith knows God has a plan.
Yet daily, menial nothingness has a way of hiding the plan from our eyes.
Rose gardens and roses have a purpose.
Have you ever put together a big puzzle?
Did you ever use the picture on the box to help you know the overall view? Of course! Well, we have a puzzle, the pieces I do not understand, and I have no great oversight, I just must trust ... there is a Guiding Hand.
I have learned to say I am sorry, quicker and more often, for I know there is a bigger picture and there is more than this.
Father lead me to the Rock that is higher than I!
We must learn to trust ... how can you sink through a solid rock?
We must trust the Master gardener.
Unfolding of the Rose (writer unknown)
A young, new preacher was walking with an older, more seasoned preacher in the garden one day and feeling a bit insecure about what God had for him to do, he was inquiring of the older preacher. The older preacher walked up to a rosebush and handed the young preacher a rosebud and told him to open it without tearing off any petals.
The young preacher looked in disbelief at the older preacher and was trying to figure out what a rosebud could possibly have to do with his wanting to know the WILL OF GOD for his life and for his ministry.
Because of his high respect for the older preacher, he proceeded to TRY to unfold the rose, while keeping every petal intact...It wasn’t long before he realized how impossible it was to do so.
Noticing the younger preacher’s inability to unfold the rosebud while keeping it intact, the older preacher began to recite the following poem...
UNFOLDING THE ROSEBUD
It is only a tiny rosebud,
A flower of God’s design;
But I cannot unfold the petals
With these clumsy hands of mine.
The secret of unfolding flowers
Is not known to such as I.
GOD opens this flower so sweetly,
When in my hands they fade and die.
If I cannot unfold a rosebud,
This flower of God’s design,
Then how can I think I have wisdom
To unfold this life of mine?
So I’ll trust in Him for His leading
Each moment of every day.
I will look to him for His guidance
Each step of the pilgrim way.
The pathway that lies before me,
Only my Heavenly Father knows.
I’ll trust Him to unfold the moments,
Just as He unfolds the rose.
Author Unknown
You are not smart enough to unfold a rose bud without damaging it, only God and time can unfold the rose bud.
Trust God, He is unfolding us, God is building a church and a people, trust Him.
Consider the lilies, God cares for them.
Consider the Father kisses them each morning with dew, and He is not too busy to care about you.... (From the song... Consider the Lilies.)
There is a plan, there is a purpose, wait patiently and trust His Word.
The Master knows when therefore to gather the Rose, while it is still in it’s prime.
Some roses will stay on the bush until they fade to a dull brown, their beauty faded.
As we know all lovely things will fade away, but there comes a day when no heart aches will come, and the roses will never fade.
Here they bloom but for a season, soon their beauty will decay,
BUT WE ARE GOING TO A CITY, WHERE THE ROSES NEVER FADE.
Is not the rose sweeter in the bud than in the prime?
My blessed rose bud we have yielded you into the Master’s bouquet, hand picked and prepared for the Master’s Wedding, we shall meet at Jesus’ feet.
Farewell my beautiful rose, until the day of our eternal reunion where we shall part no more. Farewell, my rose farewell.
The eternal summer will never know a faded rose. Wait and see.
Until then, my heart will go on singing, for I see the Master’s Bouquet.
I have never done this lesson where the Mother did not ask for the rose bud as a token and memory.
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes Kyfingers@aol.com
For my time, would you pray for me.
