Lessons from a Lone Pink Geranium
17/08/2017 14:44
My beloved has been performing modern day miracles in our garden. He’s spent most of his spare time bringing our dead lawns back to life, pruning unwieldy bushes and transforming the great outdoors into a lush green habitation. He removed the curtains from our kitchen windows so we can feast on the beauty of our backyard whenever we walk into our kitchen. I love looking out through the large glass pane. In recent weeks, I’ve been watching something small and exquisite as it smiled sweetly at me from our backyard. It was a lone geranium clad in a baby pink dress, all ready for spring.
One straggly withered geranium hangs on the other side of the creeper, dejected and forlorn, spelling out in no uncertain terms how the harsh winter treated her. So how did this new bloom manage to prosper? I have no idea, but I’m very glad she did. Each time I look out and spot this lone pink geranium, my heart turns a joyful summersault and a fresh breeze of gratitude fans me. All around her is the deep green of winter, so Miss Geranium, in her rosy attire is striking, like a red rose on bed of snow. She adorns the creeper—alone but happy, small but graceful, insignificant but wearing a badge of honour.
And strangely enough, I don't think she's lonely!
Loneliness is a malady of our modern overly connected world. I'm blessed by a plethora of rich relationships so have much to be grateful for. However, it doesn’t mean I’ve never been lonely. Take for instance, my first long term visit into a foreign country. Thirty years ago, I accompanied my new husband to the enchanting city of Bath, England. Shan was off to study for a doctorate and as we both prepared to zoom off on a thrilling new adventure, I floated gaily on cloud 9. It was glamorous and exciting… at first.
But when we arrived at our small, drab, noisy, student studio flat in the height of a chilly winter, just 4 days days before Christmas – that’s when my bright beautiful bubble burst. Despite being with the man I loved, and being ready (or so I’d thought) for new experiences in brand new territory, loneliness seeped into my life, slowly and surely, like a dripping ceiling during a rainy winter might create a cold, wet, miserable home. For the next 18 months, I was terribly homesick. And often lonely.
Who among us has never felt isolated? Thankfully I rarely feel lonely these days. The older I’ve grown, the more I’ve thirsted for solitude and the happier I’ve become in my own company. The more I’ve relished God’s Presence too. These days loneliness takes other forms. It might stab me when people around me are different and I’m the only one marching to the beat of my Heavenly Drummer. It finds me when I don’t feel understood. Its cold finger might prod me when it’s difficult to share my journey with those around me. I’m sure most of us at different times have found ourselves in the sad damp cocoon of loneliness.
But not the Lone Pink Geranium.
Here’s what she said when I asked her:
1. Be YOU.
2. Be bold.
3. Be bright.
4. Be different.
5. Be colourful.
6. Hang in there.
7. Spring is coming.
8. Gaze at your Creator.
9. You can make it.
10. Defy the odds.
11. Cling to Hope
12. Life is short.
13. Be unique.
14. Smile.
15. Be YOU!
So let’s learn a lesson from that lone pink geranium. Let’s be ourselves, bold and confident. Let’s make a statement. Be different when needed, especially when God calls us to it. Let’s learn to live to an Audience of One. Alone when we need to be … but never lonely. Because of course we have a God who champions our cause and is with us every step of the way.
Yes … BE YOU!
