Meek and Lowly Bluets

"I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Ephesians 4:1-3

As we walked home from Mom's yesterday, I started spying the clusters of bluets that are forming on the lawn of my brother's cabin. They are not very tall yet and the groupings are quite small, but there they are, poking their little blue and white faces to the sky! These are not a showy flower, nor do many people think to cut them for use in vases, but I have always loved their daintiness and cut them to put in my tiny vessels to have near the bathroom sink or at the post office window. They brighten their little corner. These little flowers just seemed to fit perfectly with the passage I was reading from this morning. Any of us who know the Lord Jesus Christ personally know that this is speaking to the believer and the way that we are to walk through life toward those who are not Christians and also within the church. The whole chapter is full of God's wonderful teaching on unity and the purpose of and proper use of the gifts that He has given to each of us.

This "meek" little flower fits in quite nicely to illustrate the walk described above. The beautiful clusters are made us of hundreds of individual flowers, all standing and blooming together. Their vocation is to bloom and grow where they are planted. This lowly little fellows are always at risk of being trod upon but are amazingly resilient and seem to stand right back up and forbear the storms that are rained down upon them. Through it all they show forth the glory of the Creator in their sunny, blushing faces.

We pass by hundreds of objects a day that show forth our God's splendor. I grew up with a mother who was always noticing these things. She still does. Often she will say, "If we had a magnifying glass and looked at that dandelion (or any flower) we would be amazed at the beautiful details that makes it!" I remember the first time she showed me the "spit bug" (that's what I call it). She took hold of the spittle that had formed on the stem of goatsbeard or queen Anne's lace, spread it out between her fingers, and there was the little green spittle bug. He forms the foaming liquid to protect himself - to be honest I don't know why else, perhaps to lay eggs, I'm not really sure. I know one thing, wherever there is spittle there will be a green bug inside! There's an object lesson there, somewhere.

There is a verse in I Timothy 6:17 that reads, "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate..."

For some reason the world just seems to get busier every day. Each of us only has so much time. If you're like me, I often think that I don't have time to slow down (though, if I would just slow down once in a while it may seem that I actually have more time). I'm thankful for the days that we can just take it slow and deliberately notice the glorious "lowly" things around us that the Lord has put there for us to enjoy. We are indeed RICH!