For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass - 1 Peter 1:24

Our little congregation here at Highland is sharing the grief of two of our families who lost both a daughter and a sister last Saturday to the ravages of cancer. Joni fought the disease as hard and as brave as I believe anyone can for the past two years. With this sad event fresh in mind, I'd like to offer a few thoughts that I feel are relative to the occasion.

Solomon, having his great wisdom endowed by God, said in the third chapter of Ecclesiastes that there is a "season" for all things. A couple of those "things" involves "weeping" and "laughing." (Verse 4) The apostle Paul says in Rom. 12:15 that we "rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep." Today is the "season" that we "weep" with our brothers and sisters.

And now, let me share a few thoughts with you. I'd like to do this in a parabolic way, if I might. I'm going to use the analogy of something common to our knowledge and from that analogy, draw a spiritual lesson. I love studying the parables of Christ and I like to use His method from time to time. Today is one of those times.

In His parables He drew on analogies that people could relate to and then laid a spiritual lesson along side the analogy that allowed them to understand the picture drawn for them. And some of those parables also used "plants" to represent souls on earth. Not only there, but in several places in the Bible we see God using various "plants" as representative of humans, as we see in our introductory passage. Therefore, I think my parable/analogy fits right in.

Here's how I'll draw my picture, present my analogy: picture the earth as being God's garden and us being the "plants" therein. We know that all plants get harvested in their "due season." Think of it this way, these "due seasons" are the times when God gleans His garden. He pulls the "weeds," but He picks the "flowers." Isn't that what we do with our gardens?

And we know that His gleaning is a continual thing. He is constantly "harvesting" in His garden. The "due seasons" come all the time for all the "plants in His garden.

Not a day goes by that there isn't "weeds" hoed and "flowers" picked. But know this, that God only picks the best for the bouquets that grace His heavenly mansion.

You may have heard me speak of a particular old hymn before entitled "The Master's Bouquet" and I think that it fits right well with our thoughts today. This old hymn isn't found in our modern songbooks today, but I wish it were. With the understanding that all of our songs, hymns and spiritual songs are lessons within themselves, let me share with you some of the words of this great old hymn.

The first verse goes like this: "Death is an angel sent down from above. Sent for the buds and the flowers we love. But every bud and each blossom some day. Will bloom as a flower in The Master's Bouquet."

The chorus reads: "Gathering flowers for the Master's Bouquet.

                                      Beautiful flowers that will never decay.

                                      Gathered by angels and carried away.

                                      Forever to bloom in the Master's Bouquet."

So there's my parable, my analogy: we all occupy space as "plants" in the garden of God. Here is what I find interesting when I consider the words of that song and the picture painted by our analogy. Do you realize that we choose what kind of plant we'll be on earth? Now, there's really only two categories of "plants" - "weeds or flowers." And, we'll know where we'll be eternally by the choosing of which plant we'll be. Let me come back to this thought a little later.

Because we're surrounded by the "tares," the "weeds" who are the "plants" of Satan, (Mt. 13:7 & 25) to the point where they almost "choke" us out, I sometimes think that we tend to pay so much attention to the "weeds" around us that we forget the "flowers." Perhaps we even take our "flowers" for granted. When a "due season" comes along, such as it did last Saturday, let's remember to thank God for allowing us to grow among His "flowers."

Before I bring this to a close, let me provide you with the last verse of our hymn: "Loved ones are passing each day and each hour. Passing away as the life of a flower. Taken and cared for in heaven's own way. Forever to bloom in the Master's Bouquet."

Back in the 2^nd paragraph of this editorial I cited a scripture penned by Paul found in Rom. 12:15. You remember, the "rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep."? And, you recall my analogy of the earth being God's garden? I'll close this lesson by passing on a special bit of information.

The families with whom we are "weeping" just had a brand new "flower" planted in their portion of the "garden." A "flower" that comes in the form of a great-granddaughter. What a wonderful exclamation point to add to our lesson today. Yes, we're "weeping" but at the same time we're "rejoicing." Isn't God a wonderful gardener?

Ron Covey