A Watered Rose

Read Ephesians 4:31–5:2

The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.
-Isaiah 58:11 (NRSV)

HAVE you ever stood still, looked into the head of a rose, and marveled at its beauty? Days before, such a beautiful rose was a small, tight bud. Who could imagine that within a few days this would become a beauty so large it seemed impossible that it ever fit into that bud? What's more, the rose can overwhelm with the pleasure of its exquisite fragrance.

Becoming a Christian is like this. Without Christ, we "are limited and small" but once we have been "united with Christ," (Phil. 2:1, niv) our loving Savior, we unfold and expand like that rose. In Christ we can become full and rich in compassion, spreading the fragrance of love.

by Alison Mason (Victoria, Australia)