Our lily in the front flower bed is just about to bloom! I’ve been excitedly watching it in anticipation for weeks now! It has reminded me often of the stargazer lily which bloomed so beautifully at the house where we used to live, two moves ago.
Stargazer lilies hold a special fondness in my heart because they were the flowers we had in our wedding. I have tried, over the years, to grow stargazer lilies. And after many attempts, and many different moves, a stargazer lily actually grew well … and bloomed!
One morning, as I was delighting in the stargazer lily, the verse popped into my mind: “ … children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars …”
– Philippians 2:15
Obviously, the verse is referring to planetary stars, but I couldn’t help but think how the verse might also apply to the beautiful stargazers in my front flowerbed.
This lily plant could represent each person who loves and follows Jesus Christ. All the many blooms (and all the buds soon to become blooms) could represent the beautiful deeds produced by the Holy Spirit in our lives … which display the glory of Christ to the world!
But if you take a close look at the photo, do you notice anything else?
The weight of all the beautiful blooms and buds is pulling the lily plant towards the ground. Therefore, a support post and string are holding the lily plant upright.
This could represent those who love us and with whom we are in relationship. Not only are we to be “bearing much fruit”/ aka – beautiful blooms! … but we are also to be holding each other up as we do so. Life is hard! Life pulls us down! And the beautiful blooms which the Holy Spirit is producing in our lives, they are weighty sometimes! We need each other to help hold us up! Relationships matter!
1 Thessalonians 5:11 – “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up …”
Isaiah 35:3-4 – “Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear.”
Be a beautiful “star” in the flowerbed of life!
Be a sturdy support string and post for others!
