Like a Flower In the Rain

If you pick a flower from a plant, it doesn't take much force to pluck the petals from the stem, yet during a torrential storm, the petals take the beating from the pelting rain without falling apart. Droplets fall thousands of feet from the clouds above mixed with wind and air pressure attacking the earth with an almost immeasurable force which can even feel somewhat stinging to bare human skin. So the observation how beautiful flowers tolerate such pressure is intriguing. 

I'm not a gardener, so my interest in a beaten-up, post-storm flowerbed led to some research. Here's what I found:

"Heavy rain damage on plants may leave them looking like they’ve been flattened to within an inch of their lives, but if you take a closer look at stems and branches, you’ll notice something amazing — most of those rain damaged parts are bent, not broken. Your plants may look terrible, but their flexibility saved them from a monstrous rain storm. If instead they remained rigid in the face of such an intense beating, their tissues would have broken or cracked, causing important transportation pathways to be severed. 

A few days to a week after a damaging storm, your plants will perk back up. Sometimes flowers are damaged and leaves slightly torn, but your plants will replace these injured areas much faster than seems possible if you leave them alone to do it. Don’t try to prop plants that are rain-flattened, since this can lead to additional damage. Let them be and watch them come back from their beating." (www.gardeningknowhow.com) 

Watching a harsh summer rain pound down on a beautiful, delicate bed of colorful flowers can really serve as a powerful reminder for us: 

We might get knocked down, but we will recover. We might be bent, but we are not broken. 

Even though our situation "may look terrible," being flexible, or moldable in the the Potter's hands, will allow us to withstand the pressure of the storm. If we are rigid, or bitter, we could become quite broken in a storm, hindering our growth in God. 

As a mother, we will watch our children go through storms. Often we want to jump in and save them from the beating, but sometimes that's not what God intends. We must allow God's process to take place. 

And even though our children may be damaged and slightly torn from the storms of life, if we trust the Creator and leave them in God's hands, they will heal and come back from that beating! We don't have to worry if they are broken beyond repair. We don't have to prop them up and fix their situation. 

"I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing." Ezekiel 34:26

Let the natural rain, and the beauty it brings remind you that storms bring forth blessing! 

The rain will come, we just have to trust God's design for growth in our lives. Like a flower in the rain.