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"

A Springing Youth of Fragrance

Jessica was hospitalized for a week.  The doctor said she had jaundice.  Her mom and dad and Ann, her sister were there to care for her.  At this blooming age of 13, she felt a little nervous when she heard she had to stay in the hospital.

On hearing about her illness, her Sunday School teacher came to see her holding a nice bouquet in her hand on the very first day. She talked to her and her family and said a prayer.  Jessica felt gracious talking to her teacher. She was so happy to see those flowers the teacher brought.  The teacher asked to leave.  She didn’t give the bouquet to Jessica and left.  Jessica thought she might have forgotten to give it to her or maybe those were not for her.

 
The next day, the Sunday School teacher visited her again with the same bouquet in her hand.  Today, those flowers were not as blooming as yesterday, but still were looking beautiful.  She said a prayer.  Again today, she didn’t give those flowers and went away.



The third day.  The same chronicle. The teacher was bringing the bouquet and not giving her.  The fourth day, again the same.  Jessica was to be discharged on the fifth day.  The teacher was there again.  Today, there was no life in the flowers the teacher had brought; mostly there were only stems left and no fragrance at all.

The teacher left the bouquet on the hospital bed table beside her.  She said “This bouquet’s for you.”  She couldn’t help herself asking, “Why teacher, when it was full of life, you didn’t give it to me!” and asked her offensively, “take it away, I don’t want it.”

“Do you remember Jessie,” said the teacher, “This was what I wanted to make you understand in our class when you argued about serving the Lord at an early age. You said these things are to be done in our additional life. Tell me would God like your life when it has withered?  If you don’t want these flowers, then God too wouldn’t want your dried-up life.”