My flowers put on quite a show this spring. The roses are trying to take over the backyard flowerbed. The white peonies bloomed first and the deep rose peonies are almost ready to open.
Last week, with a thunderstorm imminent, I raced out into the yard, clippers in hand, to cut roses and peonies, so I could continue to enjoy their beauty in vases on the dining table.
”Roses are red, violets are blue” .. Every kid has written those words to his sweetheart.
My love is like a red, red rose . words written by Robert Burns in 1794.
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” William Shakespeare in the play, Romeo and Juliet in 1597.
I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. Song of Solomon 2:1, New King James Version Bible.
Someone wrote a gospel song from that verse years ago, comparing Jesus to the lily of the valley, the Rose of Sharon, the Bright and Morning Star. I have sung it for years, in congregations and at times when the song just suddenly appears on my lips. And sometimes when I hear those words, love bubbles up in my heart for Jesus.
God is a gardener. “The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.” Genesis 2:8-9.
He planted trees and all other plants on earth for our food but also to enjoy looking at them. See where it says the trees were “pleasant to the sight.”
Ever wonder what heaven will be like? Revelation 22:2 says, In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
When I gaze upon my beautiful roses, it is just a little foretaste of heaven.