The spring sun is shining down brightly this morning, kissing the yellow and purple faces of the pansies and the deep pink rose buds on my little rose bush. The sky is thinly overcast with gray cigar smoke clouds from Father Sky’s library pipe. The clouds are a study in gray, an early morning grisaille painting. I watched the clouds get close then push back from each other giving the sun plenty of space to spread her golden rays around. Makes me think of the beautiful song The Rose, best sung to me by Bette Midler, and my favorite verse, “Just remember in the winter, far beneath the winter snows, lies the seed that with the sun’s love in the spring becomes the rose.”

I’ve been bird watching all day, perched on my polka dotted swing cushion, marveling at the wondrous colors of the birds and the beauty of the spring morning. Had a red breasted gross beak stop briefly on one of the feeders, very handsome in his snow white and glossy black coat, bright red bandana tied on his breast. I’m hoping he’ll bring his mate and his flock friends back tomorrow. Every time I glanced at the bird feeders and the bird baths my eyes would rest on my little pink rose bush just overflowing with buds and blooms. I was looking at the plethora of buds, counting them as my blessings. I never seen the bush so lovely. I was thinking what a glorious representation of God’s love and how the blooms could be symbols of our lives and our journeys of faith.

In the Bible roses symbolize love and beauty and spiritual devotion. In Bible stories we read of the rose associated with sacrifice and redemption, offering love and hope. We grow and bloom in our faith throughout our lives. We start our journey born as a rosebud and bloom with our faith till we drop our petals and go to our reward in heaven.

The rose bush has both glorious blooms and prickly thorns. The thorns are trials and serious struggles that we experience on our travels through life. But the thorns are also there to protect the blooms, reminding us to go to God in prayer for guidance in traveling through the thorns.

God doesn’t promise we won’t get pricked by life’s thorns. Sometimes the tragedies in our lives make us bleed but our pain cannot destroy our love of God. God uses life’s heartaches to strengthen our faith. Our trials are not to make us weaker but to make us stronger and bloom in our relationship in God. We grow in faith when we go to the Lord to lay down our burdens and to give thanksgiving for our blessings. God’s love can warm us like the sun and make us bloom in faith like the rose bush buds and blooms.

The rose is one of God’s most perfect creations. The tightly woven buds so beautifully opening with our faith to reveal a glorious bloom symboling a purity of heart and a devotion to the Lord. Nurture your faith through prayer and let it bloom.

“Some people think God is unfair for putting thorns on roses… Instead let’s thank God for putting roses on thorns… The thorns of life shape our character.” — Unknown