Daily Devotions
Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD … He will be like a tree planted by the water. Jeremiah 17:7-8
In the fall of the year, when most of the yard flowers have bloomed out, we notice the chrysanthemums coming into their own. Called mums for short, their name in Greek means “golden flowers.” During the summer no one pays much attention to the uninteresting plants. The other eye-catching flowers disappear and the multi-colored, full-blossomed chrysanthemums brighten the scene. It is their nature to bloom in late summer and fall.
The Bible compares people to flowers and teaches us lessons. One truth we can learn from flowers is that they have their proper seasons, and so it is with human beings. People do not grow and mature at the same rate. Some are like early spring beauties, while others, like the chrysanthemums, are late bloomers. The psalm compares the righteous person to a plant “which yields its fruit in season” (Psalm 1:3).
There is for each Christian a proper season for blossoming out, maturing, and bearing fruit. It is a wise parent who knows what to expect from children at the time proper for them. Those are wise teachers who can discern the right growth and fruit-bearing season of their pupils. Those are wise spiritual leaders who can recognize the “chrysanthemums” in their congregations – people who come into their own when their time has come: retired persons, senior citizens, and many others who have individual talents and their own built-in schedules, calendars, and clocks of personal development.
Jesus, our Lord, found many late bloomers, that is, persons who came to Him relatively late in life, believed in Him, and served Him. He gladly accepted the ministrations of Peter’s mother-in-law, whom He had healed. He welcomed a late bloomer in Jericho: Zacchaeus the tax collector, who became a follower of Jesus. He promised heaven to so late a comer as the penitent thief on the cross.
Are you like a chrysanthemum, like a fall flower? For you, too, Christ died and He wants you in His flower garden.
PRAYER: Thank You, Lord God, heavenly Gardener, for planting me in Christ’s kingdom and giving me a chance to bloom. Amen.
(Devotions from “With Jesus Every Day” copyright 1997, CPH. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be printed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of Concordia Publishing House. Permission is granted for one-time emailing of this link to a friend. For information on other devotional material, please contact CPH at 800-325-3040 or visit CPH at www.cph.org.)