A Perfect Tulip?

 For Valentine's Day, my husband got me a pot of beautiful red tulips.  Because they are potted, and were in full bloom when he bought them, they are already "overblown:" the blooms are no longer the classic tulip shape, but have spread open into a sort of starburst shape.  As I was admiring those overblown blooms this morning, I realized that even though flower professionals would consider them past their prime, nevertheless they were not wilted and were quite beautiful in their own way.

"Perfect" Tulip?  Maybe not...

It occurred to me that this state, considered overblown and past its prime by most observers of tulips, is actually what these flowers are supposed to become.  It is the ultimate destination they are meant to reach, just before they begin to droop and wither: wide open, fully mature, doing everything in their power to attract pollinators to perpetuate their kind.  That is the ultimate purpose of a flower bloom.

Our culture has done a similar thing with people - holding up as the most beautiful, the ultimate, and the best, an "immature" state of being.  Young and dewy, tight-skinned, well-muscled, with a full head of (not in the least bit gray) hair: these are the characteristics to be maintained at all costs, an artificial definition of handsomeness and beauty chosen (rather arbitrarily  in my opinion)  from a narrow range along the path  of what God has meant us to become.

But I contend that so long as the spirit is lively and bright, it gives light to the whole person, and makes beautiful and handsome those badges of living that worldly standards may consider merely old and ugly, imperfect, undesirable  -  overblown.   Silvering and thinning hair, sagging and bagging, lines and wrinkles, stretch marks, scars, and everything of that sort serve as badges of honor - proof that the person sporting them has LIVED!

As creatures of God, what then is our ultimate purpose?  To live our lives from seed to bud to bloom and yes, even to overblown, as flowers in His garden, rejoicing in each and every stage of our being, not yearning either forward or backward to live in just one brief stage.  Ultimately, we each shall be cut, and gathered in God's arms, a riot of color and beauty to decorate God's throne room until the final coming of His kingdom.

"There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens" (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

Until my gathering, I shall strive to keep my face turned to Jesus to reflect God's glory, so that I go to him a beautiful flower, mature and fulfilling my intended purpose (no matter if I appear overblown or past my prime to the world at large).  And that is my prayer for you also, my friend!

Some beautiful blooms  (Happy 50th Anniversary, parents!)

A little something to chew on:  what aspect of yourself do you consider less than perfect, but which may, in fact, be a beautiful aspect of the particular life journey God has given to you?  Try to make peace with that something; try to see it as God may see it!

Find Your Greatness

I've been trained to expect ads from companies like Nike to feature toned athletic bodies, sweating and achieving athletic greatness of one sort or another.  The message is "buy our stuff if you want to become great like these beautiful, successful people."  So I was very pleasantly surprised by this Nike ad, which I've now seen a couple of times during the Olympics:



This 12-year-old boy from London, Ohio is neither toned nor displaying athletic greatness.  But the narrator tells us that greatness is not reserved for the chosen few with special gifts.  Greatness isn't rare or precious, or unique. His final words as we watch this boy doggedly jogging on are these: "We're all capable of it. All of us."

And the ordinariness of this boy - in such stark contrast to the feats of the Olympic athletes - reminded me that we really are not just capable of greatness, but we are from the moment of birth already great.

Our greatness begins in our identities as creatures made by God, and made in God's own image:

So God created human beings in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them. 
(Genesis 1:27)

And God assured us that he sees something compelling in us, his creatures, when he sent Jesus for our sake, to redeem us from our sins:

For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
(John 3:16)

And God used the words of his servant, the apostle Paul, to remind us that as his beloved creatures, redeemed by Jesus' blood, we have a purpose and task to live into:

So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing.
(I Corinthians 9:26)

Yes, the only question of our greatness lies in whether we live into it fully, or merely leave it as an unfulfilled  potential for so very much more.  How will you live into your greatness today?