Though in all honesty I am not blonde, I sometimes have moments where I question my brunette state of mind. You see, I am staying at this wonderful house this summer and in a sense am house-sitting as well as paying rent. All in all, it is a great deal. While my friends and I are living here, we have a couple responsibilities as we watch over the home. One that we painstakingly try to remember is water the plants. Ideally we try to get the outdoor and indoor plants hydrated daily. While we have great intentions, sometimes the water gets lost in the communication between us roommates or gets forgotten amid the crazy schedules. Anyways, after I was able to squeeze the process of irrigation into my morning routine, I started to notice which plants were looking great and which ones appeared to be suffering. After three consecutive days of getting that hose out and wetting down those plants, I was beginning to feel a sense of pride at how great the flowers appeared to be thriving. Then upon further inspection, I realized the beautiful blooming pots of flowers were….dun dun dun….fake! I had been watering both the real and the fake flowers outside and didn’t even realize it. And one more time to reassure you, I am brunette, not blonde.
Now that story could go down in the books for a chuckle or two, but I actually started thinking about what had happened. And some may say I just think too much after reading on, but this is where my thoughts led.
Thinking about the flowers needing water to grow, I started to ponder the similarities found in us. As people we need certain things to grow. We need to be weeded out occasionally and we need consistency. Or what if we think of the flowers as things in our lives? What if we are the gardeners (hopefully with greener thumbs than my own) and we can choose what to water in our lives and what to leave dry? What if the fake flowers represent things we irrigate in our lives that don’t need to be irrigated and really don’t need to be there at all? The fake flowers may symbolize worrying or wasting time, which are very appealing but they don’t need the moisture.
It is said that the hard things in life may reap the greatest rewards. I believe maintaining relationships with people may be a hard thing yet people are a huge asset to life. I am a people person and love all I can learn from those around me. But there are times I choose not to make that phone call or encourage a friend when in need and during those times, that relationship begins to shrivel. To maintain any relationship it takes work or in our case water. Or what about our relationship with God? To not water that relationship daily or not sharpen myself with His word daily, I will start to wilt (like some of the real flowers outside…oops!) While this is a simple metaphor and it talks about a basic concept, I was struck by the importance of watering my life and watering the right plants as I live everyday.
These meanderings remind me of a story I heard a year ago while getting my hair (brunette in color) trimmed at the salon. Little did I know I was about to be challenged as I sat in that chair and little did I know it would all start with tomatoes. Tomatoes are simple things yet represent a simple truth. Here’s a little ode to the tomatoes…
Red,
Green on top
Growing, Ripening
Simple, Yet Profound
Growing, Ripening
Changing Shape
Growing, Ripening
Ready To Go
Dying, Losing The Battle With Life
Tomatoes
That is their life
They ripen
They die
With no time in between
So like the tomato
Let us always ripen
And never give up
The struggle for growth
As we wait
For His time
To be picked.
So whether I am crazy to write this little diddy inspired by a tomato or not, I appreciate the thought this stylist planted in my head. Tomatoes are always ripening until they are picked and then they begin to die. Many things grow in our lives, it all depends where we pour the water. We too will always grow as we are watered by what we place in our lives. May I be like a tomato, ripening until the time the Lord brings me home and may I hydrate the stuff in life that matters and forget about watering the fake stuff.
Now that story could go down in the books for a chuckle or two, but I actually started thinking about what had happened. And some may say I just think too much after reading on, but this is where my thoughts led.
Thinking about the flowers needing water to grow, I started to ponder the similarities found in us. As people we need certain things to grow. We need to be weeded out occasionally and we need consistency. Or what if we think of the flowers as things in our lives? What if we are the gardeners (hopefully with greener thumbs than my own) and we can choose what to water in our lives and what to leave dry? What if the fake flowers represent things we irrigate in our lives that don’t need to be irrigated and really don’t need to be there at all? The fake flowers may symbolize worrying or wasting time, which are very appealing but they don’t need the moisture.
It is said that the hard things in life may reap the greatest rewards. I believe maintaining relationships with people may be a hard thing yet people are a huge asset to life. I am a people person and love all I can learn from those around me. But there are times I choose not to make that phone call or encourage a friend when in need and during those times, that relationship begins to shrivel. To maintain any relationship it takes work or in our case water. Or what about our relationship with God? To not water that relationship daily or not sharpen myself with His word daily, I will start to wilt (like some of the real flowers outside…oops!) While this is a simple metaphor and it talks about a basic concept, I was struck by the importance of watering my life and watering the right plants as I live everyday.
These meanderings remind me of a story I heard a year ago while getting my hair (brunette in color) trimmed at the salon. Little did I know I was about to be challenged as I sat in that chair and little did I know it would all start with tomatoes. Tomatoes are simple things yet represent a simple truth. Here’s a little ode to the tomatoes…
Red,
Green on top
Growing, Ripening
Simple, Yet Profound
Growing, Ripening
Changing Shape
Growing, Ripening
Ready To Go
Dying, Losing The Battle With Life
Tomatoes
That is their life
They ripen
They die
With no time in between
So like the tomato
Let us always ripen
And never give up
The struggle for growth
As we wait
For His time
To be picked.
So whether I am crazy to write this little diddy inspired by a tomato or not, I appreciate the thought this stylist planted in my head. Tomatoes are always ripening until they are picked and then they begin to die. Many things grow in our lives, it all depends where we pour the water. We too will always grow as we are watered by what we place in our lives. May I be like a tomato, ripening until the time the Lord brings me home and may I hydrate the stuff in life that matters and forget about watering the fake stuff.
1 comment:
What are you trying to say about blonds, Dom?
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