Flowers are about to Bloom:

Something to know about me is that I absolutely love flowers.  I love to paint flowers, take pictures of flowers, clothe myself in flowers, and my apartment is filled with flowers, specifically sunflowers.  I love to receive flowers, and I love to give them away.  I own a few plants, and my favorite thing is when the flowers are in bloom.  As spring is approaching, I am seeing the start of more and more flowers, along with the spring colors.  I am anticipating their return.  Something that I have gotten better at since I have started my blog is noticing the items in the world that are in direct correlation to the Christian walk.  Many other followers of the Lord will often go out into nature in order to grow closer to God for this very reason.   One of those direct correlations is the flowers that are blooming.  There are many wonderful characteristics of a flower.  Many of these characteristics, I have found, relate to how our relationships with other people often are and how we should view them with a Christian lens. 

The first is that flowers come after the harsh and cold winter.  After we have had a long wait and a long cold time, there is something beautiful that is approaching.  They come when we need to see them the most, to renew our hope.  Our conversations with others and the time that we spend with them is sometimes the best thing that can come out of a very dark season.  Just like a flower adds a splash of color, conversations, and spending time with loved ones, having a good moment, can add a dash of color to our days that seem long and hard. 

Another characteristic of a flower is that they are small and delicate.  They take care.  This is not something that you can just leave and not take care of.  If you don’t take the time to water them, give them the proper sunlight, and the space or the air to breathe, especially away from harmful items like weeds, then they will suffer and many times die from this environment.  This is also similar to our relationships with others.  If we don’t take the time to create a good environment and take the time to make sure they feel cared for, then our delicate relationship can easily be destroyed.  

On the total opposite spectrum, flowers are attached to plants that have deep roots, especially if they have any hope to survive any amount of time.  The idea is that even though flowers are delicate, when there has been a lot of history or the nutrients developed, then you may have developed a plant that can last a lifetime.  Relationships take time to develop deep roots, but once the roots have been established, they too can last a lifetime. This is something that I need to be reminded of recently.  As a teacher, there are some students that are easier to start a good relationship with right away, and then there are those students that are a bit harder to get along with.  However, each one is important, and every student needs to have time to build trust.  I have been filled with joy recently though, and one of the reasons that I have wanted to write this blog, was that I have grown a lot closer to some students than I was at this point last year with them.  It is wonderful to see the non-fighting and the good conversations when the year previously we would argue almost every week.  

Lastly, just like every flower, every single relationship with every single person is different.  You will never have a relationship the same twice.  Just like every flower has a different design and color, every relationship has different characteristics that make it unique.  You will have your absolute favorites, as I do with sunflowers, but regardless, each one is special and important.  There may be some that I want to ignore, and I may not want to take the time to admire its beauty, and therefore don’t fill it in my life, but then I could be missing out on another necessary beauty.   

Who are some of the flowers that are in your life?  Which are the flowers that are easy to get along with and which are the ones that you really need to deepen?  I know that I need to continually develop the relationships or the flowers with the middle school boys that I have in my middle school study hall.  As a teacher, I know that I should try my best to be an advocate for all my students, but it is so much easier to care for and love only the ones that make my teaching job easier.  I need to remember that the students who may be making my life harder are most likely the ones that need my love and care more than the other students.  This week I am going to take one student that I have been struggling with and write down the positive qualities.  Then I am going to take that time to make sure they know their good qualities.  Even if they don’t want to listen, I know that this may hit deeper than it may initially seem.  

The goal from me to you this week is to pick one person with whom to develop a relationship.  This means carrying about what “food” it may need to flourish, how much water, and what kind of environment it needs.  This will again be different for every single relationship, so it is important to know which each relationship needs. Obviously, this should not be for a relationship that is toxic or is very much detrimental to your mental or physical health, but if there is not that concern, then we have a great opportunity to really fill our lives with a beautiful boutique of flowers.