Fishes and Flowers

Once Upon A Time, there lived a lady gardener by the sea. She enjoyed her horticulture work and lived by selling the flowers. She had a nice small farmyard. Her small house was surrounded by beautiful fragrant flowers. Variety of flowers: pink, red, and white roses, lilies, jasmines, fresh sunflowers, and marigolds. What a fresh and delicate aroma!. This was really a heaven.

Once there was heavy rain. Some fisherwomen passed through this perfumed domain. It was late evening and the three fisherwomen thought they wouldn’t make it possible to reach their dwellings. They sought rest at this lady gardener’s place. The lady agreed.

During the night, the fisherwomen were changing sides in their provided beds. Nothing helped them go to a good level of sleepiness. Flowers were all around them. What was the reason? They whispered, “What a foul odor is this?” The fragrance they could not bear and was not letting them to sleep. They took the top covers of their fishing baskets, kept on her heads and slept perfectly till the morning.

We are so involved and engaged in our worldly life that we are not able to permit even the fragrance of heavenly life. Do I get addicted to accommodate myself more in the worldly fashion? I want you to think over it again. Look at the passages below:

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. – 1 John 2: 15-17

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. – Romans 12:2

The above example is an extract from Rev. Jayanad I. Chauhan's Gujarati book: "Life Beyond Death"