Eva Marie Workshops often holds events with nature-related themes. I love all that nature has to teach us about life and ourselves. God created the first garden and it was lush and beautiful.
This past week EMW hosted a workshop about The Rose. Its purpose is to bring joy to each person that sees and smells it. We learned how it starts off as a bud that has the potential to become a beautiful, delicate, fragrant rose with the right soil, food, light and water. Without these things, it won’t blossom; it’ll remain a bud or die.
We discussed how we’re a lot like this flower. We’re like the bud, born with all the talents and abilities we need. God created us with everything that makes us unique and beautiful. Like the rose, we won’t grow to our potential without love, encouragement and faith. Somewhere between the bud and the blooming, we can start to doubt our potential, yet God never wanted us to doubt the gifts He has given us. When we start comparing ourselves to others, questioning our abilities, or being told “no,” we can stop growing.
Although roses are lovely to look at, we avoid touching their thorns because we can bleed if we get pricked. Botanists call the thorns “prickles,” and their purpose is to protect the rose from bugs and other creatures. The rose gives off a sweet fragrance that deer love, but the prickles stop them from eating the rose. Without thorns, we wouldn’t have roses. As Abraham Lincon said, “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns or rejoice because thorns have roses.”
Just like the rose has thorns to protect it, we have thorns in our lives to help us grow. We often want to avoid the thorns in our lives because they can be a real challenge to us. Sometimes we’re choked by life’s circumstances. And yet, the painful times we go through can help us grow and bring out the beauty in us. When we acknowledge and identify the thorns, and express gratitude for their lessons, we blossom.
Just like us, roses come in many shapes, sizes and colors, and each is symbolic in its message. Red often stands for love, while yellow symbolizes friendship. The rarest color of rose is the Blue Rose, while the most expensive rose is the Juliet with its soft peach petals. The number of roses one sends can convey a message as does whether they’re long-stemmed or petite.
When a rose is in full bloom—in color, shape and scent—it has reached its full potential. We love admiring its beauty and fragrance and using it to adorn our environment. When we reach our full potential, we become the fragrant rose we were created to be.
I hope the next time you see a rose you look at it differently and think of how we might be like it.
Rare beauty
One of a kind
Secure in Christ
Eternal Fragrance
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Beautiful, Marie. You have a gift. I have passed this on. Sherrie
Thank you for your encouraging comment and passing my blog on.
It took a long time for me to believe I could become a rose. God is faithful and He didn’t give up on me. So thankful.
This post is really deep and meaningful.
Solid background research & quotes from other people make it really authentic (because it all fits together to make some really good points).
Heaps of logos (logic: the thinking process embellishing a topic)
and pathos (strong emotional impact)
and ethos (persuasive power, like that of a speech).
Well done 🙂 It’s a really good piece.
Thank you for the encouraging words. Your words inspire me to keep writing.
Wow profound description of symbolism of the rose, impressive and felt comforting at the same time to believe we grow into various fragrant roses as life includes the challenges like the thorns from stems.
Yes, the thorns in our life help us to grow like a beautiful fragrant rose.
Sure hope so, feeling thorns of raising a teen, looking fwd to the fragrance, in meantime sniffing some roses.
The fragrance is there. The thorns won’t last forever.
Beautiful, sorry I missed the workshop, Jim has been very sick with Vertigo. He is progressing slowly but herring better. I enjoyed your post. Being compared to a rose, made me feel good. Thanks
We missed you. Happy the blog made you feel good.