Painting The Roses Red

I've had my share of jobs over the years, one of which was my short stint as a florist. But don't call us that.....the correct term is floral designer. Yep. Sounds so much more professional, doesn't it? I know..stuartess/flight attendant..whatever. Silliness abounds.

While I worked at a fairly large warehouse for flowers, the Valentine's Day boom came. Such a grueling experience....a thousand red roses arrived everyday, different kinds that had to be unloaded and prepared. I got so sick of seeing those little buggers in every corner of sight that I think they will always be my least favorite flower. And I like flowers, so that is a weird thing considering every girl is supposed to love red roses. I guess that's just another thing that makes my weird level go up, and it's already pretty high, so I think I could be bordering on freak. But I'm still not wacky enough to grab a little paint brush with the card soldiers and start slapping red paint over the flowers to escape an angry-eyed queen from screaming, "Off with her head!" Queen or no queen, there won't be red roses for me. She will just have to face my squinty eyes and that is all there is to it. She would most likely be intimidated by that because my squinty eyes are fiercesome.

I do love flowers though. I love the way they smell, and they're just bright and cheerful if only for a short time. But they are interesting to me...they remind me of people in a way. Unique and different, yet still in little bunches with similar looking flowers. Ofcourse, people are obviously more unique and interesting because we are all created for something more. We've got hearts that long for love and swirl with feelings, brains that tick around like a clock in our heads with ideas and vision, and bodies that we can discipline to be stronger and better everyday. God made us with an incredible amount of detail, it's absolutely amazing.

But yet like flowers, we are fragile and small. Some of us may grow to be taller and wider (or as many would like to call it: big boned) but we're still fragile. One storm can blow us away. One gust of wind can knock us down. Even one drop of rain can hit us hard and make us disoriented. Some have more hurts than others, with those thorns sticking out and jabbing you in order to protect themselves. Some are very noticeable and easily recognized, while others still are so tiny that you accidentally step on them because you never see them. And with all of these flowers/people, we stick with living around other flowers that look like us and live like us, never experiencing anything beyond our own gardens of safety. How sad for us. Endless kinds of flowers with endless colors, and shapes, and fragrances and names...but yet the only flower we know by heart is the red rose. I wonder what we're so scared of anyway..maybe being called a weed.

I hope that I can stop seeing people as clumps of the same flower, and see more in them...the way God can look at me and see a potential for something greater. In spite of my silly ways and stubborn tendencies, He doesn't ever throw me into a pile with other flowers. He sees me, and He loves me anyway:)

Well I'm off now, that white rabbit is still a good ways ahead of me. He thought he could lose me in Florida because of the old people trying to drive Miss Daisy in front of me with their golf carts, but it's not going to work. He's goin' down. But until I catch up with him, I guess I'll be singing with the lovely flowers I meet along the way and maybe keeping my eyes open for the odd advise of a looney cat....


"For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

Psalm 139: 13-14

"A voice says, "Cry out." And I said, "What shall I cry?" "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God stands forever.""

Isaiah 40: 6-8