“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God;

believe also in Me.” (John 14:1)

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Walking along the path, hands in pockets, head down, thinking too many thoughts, worrying too many worries, nothing being solved, no one offering  help. . .  He was ready to turn back—until he saw it, the flower. “How could it just grow out of a crack in the rock like that?” he thought. “How could it even survive? Why would it want to?”

The winds picked up just then as drops of rain began falling. He drew his   jacket around himself. Gusts blew the little flower sideways, back and forth, as the rain, now in sheets, pummeled the petals, again and again. Holding onto life deep within the crack, no one offering help, its grip began to weaken.

No longer able to watch this relentless beating, the man looked up into the heavens and made a decision. Taking off his jacket, holding it carefully over the little flower, he drew the storm onto himself.

As the rains dripped to a mist and the winds calmed to a slight breeze, the man, drenched and cold, gently lifted the jacket away from the little flower. Beautifully glazed with drops of rain, the flower had lifted taller than before, it seemed.

He left it there, to bask in the sun emerging through the clouds. The raindrops glistened, a shining gleam, a flower smile to the sun touching its petals. It was the first time he had stopped to notice such a small, living thing. It was the first time he had protected a life beyond himself.

Leaving the path, hands in motion, head up, looking all around him, then casting his eyes upward, he saw the solution.

Someone was offering help. God had been there all along.

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 The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

(Psalm 18:2)

The smallest gift from God can, often, be the redemptive cleansing we need to give us hope, strength, and conviction to reach beyond self and extend a hand—or a jacket– to others in need.

Looking down, hands in pockets, dwelling inside our own thoughts and worries, doesn’t allow access to the view we need to take in the beauty all around us, even in the cracks of rocks that seem too barren to sustain any growth.

The flower that blooms forth from such a crack in our own self-pity, inner fears, drowning doubts, and wind-blown hopes can be sustained and grow taller when we bask in the Light of the Son who is our fortress against all storms, within and without, that may assail against us.

 God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.

(Psalm 46:1)

   “Be still, and know that I am God.”
    (Psalm 46:10) 

(Sharon G. Tate blog 06/12/16) teacherforjesus.com  Meditations on God’s Word