+JMJ
We have all heard the saying, “Grow where you are planted.” I struggled to do this for a long time. Illness and sin stunted me and kept me withered. I was inflexible and desired to be in control of absolutely everything. It’s funny when I think back now, the more I tried to be in control the less in control I actually felt (and was).
As my first post of the new year I wanted to explain where the name of my blog came from. It has deep meaning to me because the Lord had blessed me with a very special and personal contemplation to reveal it to me.
Among the Lilies
“My beloved is gone down into His garden, to the bed of aromatic all spices, too feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. I to my beloved, and my beloved to me, who feedeth among the lilies.” -Canticle of Canticles 6:1-2
The Garden Of The Lord
I can see Him walking through a beautiful garden, overflowing with every type of flower. Roses, violets, irises, daisies, dahlias, cosmos, poppies, violas, zinnias, hydrangeas, hyacinths, and of course lilies. Everywhere you look there is something blooming.
I watch as they grow together, not overpowering each other, not covering each other. Instead they are blooming and growing in serene harmony. As He walks among them they turn to face Him. They turn to His radiant life giving light. I realize that there is no sun in the sky. It is His light that illuminates and nourishes the garden.
He pauses and admires them, reaching out to caress their petals tenderly and whispers sweet words to them. This causes them to sprout taller and stronger.
It is here that I see myself there in the garden. He reaches out and caresses my cheek so tenderly and lovingly.
And He whispers, “My Little Lily.”
Thrive In Jesus
That is what He calls me…. Little Lily. I remember the moment He revealed that to me. I was so overcome I could barely speak. When He said it in my heart, I knew that He knows me. He knows me completely. Beyond even what I know of myself. I found so much comfort in that soft whisper of my name, said so full of gentle love, that I wanted to be in the garden forever.
That is why my blog is called Thriving Lily. It was when the Lord taught me how to pray that I began to relinquish control and then actually thrive. The more I give over to Him the more I grow and bloom. The more I set myself in His garden, in prayer, the more I flourish. The more I grow in my relationship with Him, the more tenderly He is able to take care of me, and the more beautiful I become.
Thrive in Jesus, my Friends!
What does the Lord call you? How do you plan on growing your relationship with God this year?
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