This is a Brown-Eyed Susan. This is one of my favorite flowers. It is so simple in its beauty but looks strong and certain. The shape of the flower makes me think that it’s lifting its head and charging forward on a mission, embracing whatever the world is going to throw at it.
As I was walking with my dogs the other morning, I noticed they were blooming. I stopped to take a picture of them because I wanted to share with you my favorite flower. Then I came around a corner and saw another batch of them and something else occurred to me.
This is a simple flower. Golden-rod petals surrounding a brown center. It should be boring. It should be nothing special. But look at this picture. What do you see? Among a field of wildflowers, delicate white Irish lace, Purple Phacelia, White Violets, and other beautiful greenery, what stands out the most with its bold and bright colors, with its face lifted to the sky?
To me, the Brown-Eyed Susan shines from this little patch of beauty.
We all have been given something very special by God, something that He has endowed upon us to use to serve Him, to serve our neighbor, to take care of those who are in need, to encourage others, to teach others — something given to us to use as God needs it used.
Oftentimes, we feel unimportant, plain, boring, less than that person or this person. Not as beautiful, not as delicate, not as smart, not as graceful. Our brains get flooded with less than thoughts that bring us down and make us afraid to use this gift from God because we’re afraid we’re not good enough.
Let me tell you something – that’s a lie straight from the master deceiver who tricked Eve with the words, “Did God really say…?”
Every single one of us called by God have EXACTLY what we need to succeed for HIS purposes. I know that I am tone def and cannot sing, read music, or play an instrument. That doesn’t mean that I feel less than capable of serving God than my talented musician friends. It simply means that He didn’t give me the gift of song! If I compare myself to them, of course I fall short. Their ministries are not my ministries, and mine are not theirs.
I don’t care if you’re a delicate flower with petals that look like intricate lace, or if you’re sturdy and strong with golden petals around a brown center – lift your face to God, embrace the gifts He’s given you, and use them to His glory. That’s all He wants from you, and that’s what your soul needs you to do.
Do it, and you’ll learn that you are worthy, you are beautiful, you are important, you are interesting, you are a piece of the intricate perfection that is God’s church, and you are on a mission that He KNOWS you can accomplish, because He’s the one who has prepared you.
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