The Rose Garden

[Carol Anne Kincaid~Paradis]

You are divinely guided and always protected.  Keep shining! First for yourself, then for others

May this Sunday be full of blessings for you. Wishing you a blissfu...

 

The Rose Garden

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There was once a woman, who, after years of work had grown a

beautiful rose garden. She worked a couple hours every day;

pruning, cleaning, feeding and weeding. People would come from

many miles away to see the beautiful roses. The colors were

vibrant, the flowers were so big, you needed two hands to hold

them. Each day nurtured and cared for. Her love showed in her

garden.

After many years, the effects of time took their toll on the

lady and she was forced to abandon her garden and rely on her

daughter for care. Her daughter didn't mind. She loved her

mother and felt it a great opportunity to spend time and really

get to know her Mother....sort of friend to friend, instead of

Mother to Daughter.

They talked about many things. They shared their experiences.

And the daughter learned that there was much to this great lady

that she hadn't known.

One day as they sat on the patio chatting, the daughter noticed

the long neglected rose garden and felt saddened. They spoke of

the garden and the daughter remarked how she used to laugh at

how her mother crawled around in that garden every day, talking

to the flowers, babying them like children.

The Mother smiled with a tear in her eye. She told her daughter

that observations are often misleading. "You see, my dear, that

garden is like a life. Let me explain. Each day I would get down

on my knees and thank God for each of those flowers. I thanked

God for their beauty, their aroma and the peacefulness of that

garden. And I took the opportunity while down there to clean out

those plants.

I got rid of the bugs, the dead pedals and leaves. I pulled the

weeds so that the bushes would grow healthy and robust. I saw

that garden as life. Each bush was an effort, each flower was

the blessing brought forth from that effort. And it was all

because God gave me the opportunity to try. And, as you can see,

like life, when the garden is not tended, the bushes become

wild, lanky and heavily barbed. They tangle among themselves.

Flowers become fewer and smaller, less aromatic. Until it

becomes so tangled and overgrown that it no longer resembles the

beautiful garden it had once been.

When you saw me crawling, I was praying. When you saw me talking

to the flowers, I was talking to God."

We each have a rose garden. How we tend that garden will

determine the beauty that it wields. But the thing to remember

is this: tending the garden cannot happen until we come to our

knees and get closer to the flowers. We need to take the

opportunity to talk to God, give him thanks and clean out the

dead weeds and pedals through repentance.

This is a great time for us. We have recently paid gratitude to

our military, the people who protect our liberties and freedoms.

And we have the opportunity soon to take a day and give thanks

for all that we hold dear.

Sadly, we have forgotten what Thanksgiving is about. A day

reserved for offering our thanks and gratitude to God, has

become a day to eat, drink, sleep and get ready to hit the Black

Friday sales at midnight. It has become just another day,

differing only by the fact that we have a great big meal.

When was the last time you got to your knees to tend your

garden. "Give thanks unto God in ALL things." THAT IS A

COMMANDMENT, not a request. Take time to think about the many

blessings you have been given. Approach this Holiday Season with

"AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE"!

~A MountainWings Original by Robley Martz, Fayetteville, PA~

Love and Blessings Carol Anne....