God’s Rosebud
A new minister was walking with an older, more seasoned minister in the garden one day. Feeling a bit insecure about what God had for him to do, he was asking the older preacher for some advice.
The older preacher walked up to a rosebush and handed the young preacher a rosebud and told him to open it without tearing off any petals.
The young preacher looked in disbelief at the older preacher and was trying to figure out what a rosebud could possibly have to do with his wanting to know the will of God for his life and ministry.
But because of his great respect for the older preacher, he proceeded to try to unfold the rose, while keeping every petal intact.
It wasn’t long before he realized how impossible this was to do.
Noticing the younger preacher’s inability to unfold the rosebud without tearing it,
the older preacher began to recite the following poem…
“It is only a tiny rosebud, A flower of God’s design;
But I cannot unfold the petals with these clumsy hands of mine.”
“The secret of unfolding flowers is not known to such as I. GOD opens this flower so easily, but in my hands they die.”
“If I cannot unfold a rosebud, this flower of God’s design, then how can I have the wisdom to unfold this life of mine?”
“So I’ll trust in God for leading each moment of my day. I will look to God for guidance
in each step along the way.”
“The path that lies before me, only my Lord and Savior knows. I’ll trust God to unfold the moments, just as He unfolds the rose.”
Blessings, Pastor Michael
“Summer”
’Tis summer, I know by the blue of the sky;
By the trees’ deeper green, as beneath them I lie;
And more than all these, by the lovely wild rose
That now in the woodland its pink blossom shows.
I feel the warm west wind fan gently my cheek
As I sit on the grass, far too happy to speak;
And then in the twilight I see the faint spark
Of the fire-fly, flitting alone in the dark.
Oh! long happy days, when ’tis full of delight
To roam in the meadows from morning till night!
Oh! summer, sweet summer! glide slowly away,
For I love in your warmth and your fragrance to stay. —H.P. Nichols
Lifelong Learners
“If you don’t have wisdom that goes with knowledge, you are only a walking encyclopedia,” wrote Jack Wellman, a Kansas pastor. “A book of knowledge is useless without the wisdom to know how to apply that knowledge. … Information without transformation leads only to frustration.”
Consider the many benefits of wisdom — and how you can use what you’ve acquired to serve God, your church and your community. To better fulfill your calling, what wisdom might you yet need to acquire?
As another school year begins, here’s a prayer for students of all ages: All-wise, all-knowing God, make us willing learners and seekers of your wisdom, not for the gain of knowledge for its own sake, but that we might handle every situation we face with the wisdom of Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.—adapted from The Wired Word
Beautiful Feet
“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:15, NIV). Such beauty has nothing to do with the feet being clean, newly pedicured, elegantly clad. They may be the dusty feet of aid workers bringing food to drought-stricken areas, or the muddy shoes of those rushing disaster relief to flood zones. They may be the swollen feet of a dedicated nurse after a 12-hour hospital shift, or the tired feet of a parent pacing with a baby at 3 a.m.
In the upper room before Jesus’ arrest, he declared his disciples’ dirty feet beautiful by touching and washing them lovingly, preparing them to go out yet again with his good news for all. And on the cross, Jesus’ own feet — nail-pierced — were beautiful.
After Pope Francis died on Easter Monday 2025, many mourners who paid their respects noticed his shoes. Instead of new, well-polished “dress shoes,” the scuffed items clearly had walked countless steps. They were the sturdy boots of a worker, a pilgrim, a travel companion on the road of life, the journey of faith. They were the shoes — the feet — of a disciple of Christ willing to go wherever needed to bring the good news of God’s love. How beautiful! —Heidi Hyland Mann
A Walking Contradiction
A real Christian is an odd number. He feels supreme love for One whom he has never seen; talks familiarly every day to Someone he cannot see; expects to go to heaven on the virtue of Another; empties himself in order to be full; admits he is wrong so he can be declared right; goes down in order to get up; is strongest when he is weakest, richest when he is poorest and happiest when he feels the worst. He dies so he can live; forsakes in order to have; gives away so he can keep; sees the invisible, hears the inaudible, and knows that which passes knowledge.
The [person] who has met God is not looking for anything; he has found it. He is not searching for light, for upon him the light has already shined. … He is not a copy, not a facsimile. He is an original from the hand of the Holy Spirit. —A.W. Tozer
