A Rose Among the Thorns♥

When I think of a rose I initially think of beauty, softness, fragrance, love....but when I think further I realize that these things are only part of it. There you have a fresh rose in the peak of it's fragrance and beauty, it's dark red hue arousing sentiments of love and romance, but that's not all. Look further, try to hold it, and you get pricked by the defensive thorns it displays. Pick it, take it home, planning to admire its beauty and enjoy its presence daily, but what happens after four or five days? It wilts: it is no longer happy in the environment in which it has been placed. What it feared would happen has happened, as hard as it tried to prevent it by using all of it's grand defenses. As I think more on the rose I realize that it mirrors the qualities that I often find in myself. Love is a wonderfully amazing thing when it is found, but so often I find myself wilting despite the best of circumstances. Being chosen to be someone's girl, despite the worries and hesitations, is a great honor and pleasure, but it is also a tremendous risk. On the road to love, as I go along for the ride, my tender petals get bumped, bruised, and sometimes torn. Of course these things are never meant to happen, but they do: fact of life. Sure, he loves me, admires me, tells me things that make me melt, but still I grow weary of it all, wondering what is missing. Oh, but wait! a voice inside me whispers....and ah! I do know what is missing: my roots, my natural environment, the way God meant for me to grow! In my haste to be loved and admired did I leave behind my roots, my life support, my only means of growth?! No wonder I look inside and see my petals wilting and my stem growing weary almost so much that it cannot support my leaves. I must take myself back and graft myself to my anchor, my roots, my life line, before the last petal falls to the ground and nothing remains.

Hold me, lead me safely on, oh great Jehovah; take me to the place where my soul may rest and drink of your everlasting water that gives such peace♥