Sunday, October 26, 2014

Hope Deferred

King Midas had a touch that could turn anything into gold. I have a touch that can turn anything green into something that is dead and brown. I call it the touch of death! I would really love to have a lush garden full gorgeous flowers but I just can't keep anything alive. I have always blamed it on living in South Texas where we stayed in a perpetual state of drought, but I know deep in my heart that my location has nothing to do with it. Now, I am living in a tropical climate and there is a glimmer of hope that I would now be able to grow something. What are the odds? Not very good!

I may not be able to grow beautiful flower but my neighbors can. Walking down my street I get to enjoy their gardening skills. The flowers that have mesmerized me are the orchids. They are blooming now and they are gorgeous. Have you ever seen an orchid plant? The plant itself is very unattractive. Long straggly roots hang from the base of scaly brown stalks. It really is amazing that something so ugly produces such a thing of beauty. 

The orchids bloom only a few weeks out of the year if at all. So if you have orchids in your garden you will spend most of your time looking a pitiful and homely plant waiting for elegance to emerge. Isn’t that just like life sometimes. I feel like there is always something in my world that looks like that orchid plant, ugly situations, ugly relationships, ugly sin in my heart. I spend so much of my time staring at these depressing things praying, waiting, hoping that something beautiful will come of it. 
The orchid plant may never fulfill the gardeners hopes of blooms but God always promises to bring good from our difficulties and pain. The waiting can be excruciating. Proverbs 13:12 says, “Hope deferred make the heart sick.” Have you ever felt heartsick waiting for something to change? I have. There is such a temptation to side with the enemy, give up hope and believe God doesn’t care. The truth is GOD DOES CARE. Psalm 103:5 says, “(God) satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed.” God sees you. God sees your longings. God promises good things will come. All you have to do is just hold on and don’t give up. 


The gardener won’t throw out the orchid because it is unsightly most all of the time. Instead he wait patiently for the beauty that comes in its time. Have faith like the gardener and trust that even in the mist of the ugliness of life splendor is just around the corner.   

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