Our Vacation Bible School theme was "God Given Gifts & Talents" with James 1:17 as our theme verse:
"Whatever is good and perfect
comes to us from God above ..."
Little did I know at the beginning of the week how God would bring this verse alive by the end of the week.
Our church divides four hundred children registering for Vacation Bible School into various talent camps. Class choices include Basketball, Woodworking, Science, Ballet, Sewing, Break Dancing, Tech, Art, Stitching, and my group, "Bobble Ball, Billiards, and Basic Yo-Yo." With my husband and I being the inventors of the egg shaped billiard ball (named Bobble Ball), I consider myself qualified to lead the Bobble Ball portion. However, God knew my weakness in the billiards and yo-yo arena so that He placed two experts within our congregation who willingly offered to co-lead the camp with me. Our billiards leader was a Hall of Fame World Champion Pool Player and our Yo-Yo leader was a nationally ranked Yo-Yo expert.
It was Wednesday, mid-way through the week. I was loading an extra Bobble Ball table into my car and one of the parking lot attendant volunteers walked over to offer his help. As we chatted, he delicately asked whether I was a caregiver for someone because my car is a wheelchair accessible vehicle. I told him we had purchased the car to assist in caring for my mother who had suffered a debilitating stroke, but she had passed away.
The parking lot attendant was silent for a moment and then shared that he had recently lost his mother. I understood the heartache of losing a mother.
"Yesterday would have been her birthday." He told me.
"How old would she have been?" I inquired.
"Ninety-two."
I felt his emotion coming through those words and knew his renewed focus on loading my car was his pathway to distraction. Another car then pulled up needing his assistance and we parted ways.
The tenderness of this man's heart did not escape my thoughts and by the next morning, I felt led to give him something with a written sentiment. Because bookmarks sharing poems or Bible verses are perfect for situations like this, I keep a box of saved bookmarks to draw from. I had a plan.
Searching through my box, I found a bookmark with the perfect poem. When I turned it over and saw my own mother's handwritten words to me on the back, I knew I had found God's choice. Since I could not give him this bookmark, I chose one of my homemade cards and wrote the poem within:
You Took The Time
You took the time to stop and chat
As you passed by today.
To jest a bit in pure delight
Before you went your way.
You took the time to lend a hand
When I was faced with care,
To give the strenth of fellowship
To comfort and to share.
You took the time for words of praise
That warmed me through and through.
You took the time to be a friend
So patient, Kind and true.
(Kristone)
My mother had then written the following words to me on the back,
Thank you Devra - daughter, friend, sister
I Love you,
Mother, friend, sister
Daughter and mother is a gift of God.
Friend and sister - a choice
Not knowing how to sign my card to the parking lot attendent, I copied the above (changing the daughter/sister to son/brother) and simply wrote,
"From my mother to me,
now from your mother to you."
I sealed up the envelope and left for work. As I pulled into my parking space, I had to avoid running over something in the road. It looked like flowers, but we were on a quiet industrial cul-de-sac. What would flowers by doing in the middle of the street? I got out of my car and walked toward the unknown curiosity. There, arranged on the asphalt pavement, were two white roses. The petals displayed a little bit of wrinkling, but they were beautiful.
My thoughts immediately changed from "What are flowers doing in the middle of the street?" to "God, why did you put these flowers in front of my building?"
I picked up the two roses and went into the office. Distracted with my morning duties before I had to leave for Vacation Bible School, I forgot about the flowers until it was time to leave. Not yet knowing God's purpose, I picked them up along with my purse and went back out to my car. Getting in, I put my purse on the floor and carefully placed the flowers on the passenger seat. I knew at that moment what God wanted me to do with one of the flowers. The envelope with my mother's poem was also on the seat. God wanted me to give one of the flowers to the parking lot attendant.
"But God," I thought, "the rose isn't really fresh, the petals are a little wrinkled."
"Yes," an inaudible thought responded, "but won't that be perfect? His mother was going to be 92. She was beautiful with wrinkles as this wrinkled flower still reflects beauty."
With awe, I sat staring at the flower and envelope. God had placed a burden on my heart to share an encouraging word with the parking lot attendant and here God had added to the sentiment by hand picking a flower and placing it literally in my path.
The significance of the flower being a white rose did not slip by me. God had many choices of flower species and colors at His creative desposal. The fact that the flower beside me was a white rose gave further proof of God's plan. I was just going to be the delivery girl. Even though I knew the general meaning at the time, I thought it would be appropriate to show God's attention to detail by offering the following history and meaning of our flower in question:
"Suited to reverent occasions, the white rose
is a fitting way to honor a friend or loved one
in recognition of a new beginning or a
farewell. Their pure color conveys respect,
pays homage to new starts and expresses
hope for the future." (Proflowers.com)
In short, God knows His flowers! However, I was now questioning His arithmetic. There were two flowers. As I pulled out of my parking space now heading for church, I scanned the area for more flowers. Nope, only two. I knew what God wanted me to do with the one flower, but what was His plan for the second flower? My mind started to search for His plan. I had a twenty-five minute commute. Time to pray and contemplate.
At first, I considered giving the parking lot attendant both flowers, but my heart just outright said, "No. One mother, one flower. Period." God was down to fifteen minutes. Think! Okay, maybe it had to do with the kids. We were studying talents. But how could a flower teach about talents?
That was it! I picked up one of the flowers from the passenger seat and held it in front of me at the steering wheel (while I alertly paid attention to my drivng duties of course). I asked the question out loud,
"How can this flower teach us about talents?"
My mind began running amuck with answers. After all, "God Uses Everyday Things .... Even a Flower" to teach us about Him!
By the time I drove into the church parking lot, I had a bouquet of ideas.
1. A flower brings beauty into the lives of others just like we are to bring beauty into the lives of others through the talents God has given us.
2. A flower is a part of our surrounding creation which testifies to God's eternal existence and power just as we are to testify to others about God's precious love.
3. The color white of this flower demonstrates purity. We are to live our lives in a manner worthy of being called God's child.
4. The wrinkled petals of this flower represent our ability to use our talents to serve God whether we are old or young.
Pulling into the church, the plan for God's two flowers had been planted. The parking lot attendant had just arrived also and was just getting out of his car. I smiled at God's perfect timing as I made my delivery.
"Hi!" I could tell I had startled the man, but I just continued blurting, "Our conversation yesterday remained on my heart. Although I never knew your mother, having lost my own, I shared in your sadness when you told me you had just experienced her first birthday without her. I found this poem which my mother gave to me and I know your mother would have shared the same thoughts with you. Also, I found this rose in the middle of the street this morning at my work."
Handing him a rose, I continued. "I know God put this rose in my path to give to you in memory of your mom. It even has a few wrinkles on it just like I'm sure your mother had!"
My words were not eloquent, but I knew he understood. He took his sunglasses off, brushed at his eyes, put his sunglasses back on, and said, "You don't know how much I needed this. There are things going on and .... well, you're timing is perfect. Thank you!" I gave him a gentle hug and continued my walk toward the church as he carefully placed the card and flower in his car.
One flower down, one to go. I said to God, "I have this now. Thank you!"
Little did I know that God still had it, not me. I should have known, because, after all, they were His handpicked flowers placed in my path. Looking back, that was my lesson. God gives me opportunities to use my talents and my responsibility is to take those opportunities and deliver His message of love and salvation to others. It is not about me. It is about Him.
My opportunity at hand was coming up. Each day started with all four hundred students meeting in the sanctuary for singing and a Bible lesson. Just as the singing started, one of my helpers handed me her phone explaining that the billiards leader needed to speak with me. I took the phone and stepped outside.
"What's up?" I questioned.
"Do you need me today? If not, will you do the devotional today? My good friend just found out that she has cancer requiring surgery and she sounds really depressed. If you don't need me, I really would like to go and spend some time with her."
"We're fine here." I responded without delay. "Go! God needs you there."
Upon hanging up, I prayed 'God, please give me wisdom today." It was the first of many short prayers as I was soon to find out.
Following the Bible lesson in the sanctuary, we led our twenty-four kids up to our room. We took roll and then started right in on our first activity for the day. After a half hour had passed, we called our group together for a short devotional. Thinking that I was prepared given the short notice, I picked up God's second rose, walked to the front of the class, held it up and asked the simple question:
"How can this flower teach us about talents?"
Lawyers have a saying, "Don't ask a question unless you know the answer." Obviously, I'm not a lawyer because I fell right into the trap. I thought I was prepared, but I was not ready for the answers being thrown at me.
"It's a rose."
"It's straight."
"It doesn't have its thorns."
"It smells."
None of their observations matched the flower analogies I had thought of on my drive into work. I shot up numerous prayers of the same caliber, "God, give me something to say!" Below are my responses which I want to clearly state were God's immediate answers to my pleading requests.
1. It's a rose. You're right. Just like there are many different types of flowers such as a daisy, lily, or carnation, God has given each of us a different kind of beauty, or talent, for us to share with others."
2. It's straight. Good answer. The straightness is like confidence. We can stand straight with confidence knowing that God will use our talents for His glory even when sometimes we don't feel like we have the experience or understanding."
3. "It doesn't have its thorns. Wow! That's insightful because you are observing something that is not there anymore. The removed thorns are like the sins God forgives us for when we choose to believe in Him. Our lives change and we quit doing the bad things that we used to do and others will notice something is missing in our lives thereby giving us the opportunity to tell them about God's love and forgiveness."
4. It smells." (I inwardly chuckled wondering how God was going to get me out of this one. No sooner had I laughed than God answered. He is so faithful!) "Remember during Monday's Bible lesson in the sanctuary? The speaker showed you a picture of the synagogue and there was a place where incense was offered. God considers our prayers as a fragrant incense to Him. When we pray, we are like a pleasant smell and aroma to God."
God was smelling me a lot right now!!!
Then I did it. I didn't know I was going to do it, but God did and He used it. Without thinking about the consequences, I pulled a petal off of the flower and dropped it to the ground while saying, "When God gives us a talent, He wants us to take that talent and use it for others."
No one heard my brilliant analogy because before the petal even hit the floor, half of the children had leaped from their chairs in order to catch the falling petal. There I stood holding one flower minus one petal looking at one proud boy holding his prize winning catch while twenty three children were now poised to lunge for the remaining petals which they were confident I was going to pull and drop.
Knowing I was licked and that my spontaneous plan of comparing each petal to the various talents was thrown to the wind, I just started walking down the aisle pulling petals off one by one and dropping them. The room looked like that scene in Mary Poppins where the birds were flocking around the woman throwing out seed. Kids were scrambling after each petal dropped.
As I continued to pull petals, I was getting nervous because the flower was getting smaller and smaller. "Does everyone have a petal?" The chorus of voices answered my question. I dropped more petals. With the group now statisfied, I shifted their attention to the volunteers in the room who were sharing their talents with us. Using my "Wrinkled" analogy of God using us throughout our life even when we are older (the volunteers were retired seniors), I began to pick a petal from my rapidly thinning rose and give one to each of our volunteers.
Another petal gone. Then another. Then another. How many petals does a flower have anyway? "God," I prayed, "please give me enough petals to finish!"
All eyes, including my own, were on the remaining petals as I went to each volunteer. Would I have enough?
When all volunteers had been recognized, one rose petal remained on the stem. However, only I could see the uniqueness of this last petal because it was so close to me. Praying for wisdom, I walked back to the front of the class holding an almost empty stem. By the time I reached the front of the room, God had answered my prayer. I knew God's purpose for the second rose.
Maybe my voice quivered. Maybe God spoke within the hearts of everyone in the room. I don't know. I do know that just moments before, chaos had broken out in the room when I dropped that first petal. Now I stood holding a stem with one last petal and every ear was quietly waiting to hear its meaning. To be clear, you could have heard a petal drop!
With glistening eyes I said, "You've probably noticed that our billiards leader is not here today. She called earlier and said that her best friend just learned some bad news from the doctor and she needed to go be with her in prayer and encouragement. We have one petal left. But look! This one petal is special because it is attached to another smaller petal. God left these last two unique petals bound to one another as a reminder to use our talents to love and care for others just as our leader is bound together in prayer with her friend right now. Let's also remember to pray for them."
Not knowing what to do next because the class was somber with reflection, I said, "Isn't our God great! Now if anyone ever asks you how many petals a rose has, you can tell them around thirty petals." Suddently the room was back to normal with kids squirming round trying to count the number of people in the room.
Almost forgetting my leadership duty, I grabbed the curriculum page with the daily devotional Bible verse which the billiards leader was supposed to review with the kids that day. Scrolling my eyes down, I saw Matthew 25:23:
"Well done, good and faithful servant.
You have been faithful in handling this
small amount, so now I will give you
many more responsibilities.
Let's celebrate together!"
I was (and still am) nervous about being given more responsibilities, but I was happy to celebrate my faithfulness to handle the delivery of two roses handpicked by God.
Written by Devra L. Robledo
©Copyright 2017 Used by Permission
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