Hold On, Petal

The weather here today is rather wild. It started off as a deep foggy morning, but once the sun rose above the cloud, the fog disappeared. It was calm, sunny – cold, yes – but nice. Then, from nowhere this wind materialized. To begin with it wasn't very strong, just a little gust, a slight breeze. But it picked up speed until the point where now, is it positively fierce. Standing in front of the window while doing my violin practice I observed petals flying off what used to be a beautiful cream and pink rose. Just yesterday I had photographed that rose sparkling in the early morning dew, and noted just how large it was – positively massive. Now, as I looked, a few more petals fluttered down, leaving one petal remaining. I watched as the wind twisted and pulled and whipped that petal in every direction, but it still remained attached to the rose stalk. A few minutes later I checked again. It was still there.

That was a few hours ago now, and since then I've cleaned up an overflowing drawer in my room, made lunch, and read a chapter in a book. Then I remembered my rose with its lone petal. I looked out the window and guess what? It's still there. The wind is as strong as ever; it's knocked the bikes over on the verandah, it's blown the cane lounge across the lawn, its made the tin flaps on the rabbits cage bang, but it can't budge that little rose petal, clinging on for dear life to its centre.

I must tell you something else about this petal: it's not exactly pretty. Sure, it's a soft pink on one end fading into a mellow cream on the other, but it's been brighter. It's starting to go brown, and it has flopped down and started shrivelling up. Except that I observed that it remained attached to the rose centre while all the other petals blew away, I wouldn't have taken any notice of this petal at all. It's not something anybody would notice. It's small and insignificant, ordinary, and not even pretty. Yet look – it taught a lesson.

I think we need to be like that petal. If we hold onto our Centre, and remain connected to Him, no amount of tempestuous wind, or violent storms can tear us away from Him. Though perhaps others get whisked away, nothing can move us. It's about holding on, even when we feel worthless, brown, shrivelled and ordinary. Hold on when life gets wild, when problems multiply, when situations go wrong, when tears come. Hold on: our Center is not going anywhere, and when we're connected to Him “neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39

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