Did you ever watch an Amaryllis bloom?

This flower is an Amaryllis.  It is a bulb that you plant in a pot inside and several weeks later it blooms into a magnificent flower. They come in many different colors and are very easy to grow. If you live in the southern united states or a tropical climate you can plant them outside. If you live in a cold climate (it was -1 this morning) then you need to grow them inside. They are very easy to grow and even if you don’t have a green thumb you can grow this beautiful flower.  I grow at least one every year because it is such a bright spot during the gloomy winter. The colors are so vibrant and you can’t help but think about how awesome God is to have created such beauty.

I absolutely love to grow things, whether it is a dog, cat, goat or a plant. I love to watch things grow and nurture them to full maturity.

I literally have hundreds of plants. I bring as much as I can into the house to  over winter for the next summer and I also put many in the barn which is heated to 45 degrees. I have learned which plants can withstand the colder temperatures in the barn and which ones can’t.  The cactus varieties thrive in the cold barn during the winter. The geraniums and hibiscus don’t like the cold but they will survive in the barn. However they do lose their leaves and need to recuperate in the spring.

I think we as Christians are a lot like these plants. We need to to be able to withstand the cold dark trials, the fiery darts of the devil, the harsh winds of deception. I always marvel at how these plants can be buried under several feet of snow for many months with sub zero temperatures and emerge in the spring unscathed.

I believe that’s what God is looking for in His children. The trials will come, we have to be tried to be perfected. However, we will come forth just like that amaryllis bud, opening a little at a time until we bloom into a beautiful child of God. We will weather the myriad trials of this life but we will mature and build character as we learn to reflect our Heavenly Father as we display His life to the world.

When I view all of the wonderful things God has created I can’t help but be in awe. I was looking at a picture of a simple blade of grass with dew on it. Wow! It’s incredible, man can’t create that! Neither can man create a child of God. You are born into His Kingdom and you will be a reflection of the King.

As I watched that amaryllis bud opening little by little through the weeks, I realized that’s exactly what God is seeing in me. Little by little I’m blooming into a bona-fide Christian! I heard a saying one time that said “if you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” It’s definitely worth thinking about. In God’s eyes I want to look just like that beautiful Amaryllis.