From a Daisy
Click below to listen to the reach:
Daisies are my favorite. For the brief time they are alive, they burst with effort — they are unhidden, wide open, fully present, and bright. I’ve always found it interesting that it’s the daisy so often used in the playful game of “he loves me” (pull a petal off), “he loves me not” (pull another petal). Poor little flower is giving its all so someone can play around with whether they are loved or not — while in reality that little flower is doing all it can to say, “Look up, not around — if you’ll look up to the One who made you, you’ll see that you are fully LOVED!”
If we look around us, if our sights are set on horizontal love, we might wonder sometimes if someone loves us or not. Hopefully within marriage and within family, we find sure love — but even there, if we are honest, we realize that love (or at least the feeling of love) can vacillate from time to time. We can’t rely on it as surely as we might want to. And oddly enough, the ONE who created marriage and family, is the same One who does not want us to find our deep needs met in horizontal love. God wants us to understand we are wrapped in His great love for us, just as the petals wrap a daisy bloom. And then sometimes (hopefully often), He will use our spouse and family as some of His favorite ways to deliver more love. They can become the conduit of His love — and that’s the most beautiful way to see “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven”.
The daisy speaks of that same “on earth as it is in Heaven” — compelling us to look upward, unhidden, open, present, and bright. Daisies have between 30 - 54 petals. That’s what a quick google search conveys. But I’ve actually counted petals from many wilting daisies (never from a happily blooming one). And I’ve counted over 100 petals on a big Gerber daisy. (We can’t believe everything we read on the internet can we. :)
Roses have 20-40 petals (google talk), but a missionary friend who is also a Rose expert once told us that the goal of a great Rose-grower, is fewer petals that last longer and hold their color. He said, the more petals the quicker the wilt, as it just can’t hold itself up if the petals are too many. Oh I could write for days on all the poetic truths we could glean from flower-petal details. God is amazingly beautiful in the countless ways He tucks Himself within the folds of what He has created. But this morning as I share with you about daisies and love-conveyed and just how inspiring it is to think of the faithful work of a daisy on its stem — I wonder if we can see the MORE that the daisy brings. It’s the unhidden, wide open, fully present and brightly shining elements of the daisy that reflect the Creator to us.
Our Father is unhidden. we might feel as though He is mysterious, and we might pass through seasons that it seems He is far away from us — but the Truth is that He is closer than the very air we breathe and nothing can separate us from His love. He is near, and eager to reveal Himself to us. He is the One who tore the veil from top to bottom as He visually communicated to us — there is now, because of Christ’s sacrifice, no separation between us.
Our Father is wide open. He hides nothing of Himself from us and He loves us no matter what (no need for petal picking songs). HE LOVES US is the shout of the daisy. His arms are wide open, just as the daisy’s petals convey to our eyes. Notice how the wildflower daisy, planted by no one, but growing freely — it holds its white petals wide — like folds of pure white cloth, symbolizing His white robes. Amazing. Our Father spreads His arms wide open for us.
Our Father is present for us. He is omnipresent (He can be everywhere at once). Nothing can keep Him from us, it is only we, ourselves, that can choose to be far from Him. But if we call out to Him, He “rides across the Heavens to help us, across the skies in majestic splendor” (Deut. 33:26). And when He arrives — we can be guaranteed He will be focused and attentive to us. He won’t be on His cell phone. He won’t be thinking about someone else or worried over something or distracted by anything. He will be fully and completely present with us. He is wonderfully and fully the God who comes near. He is the Good Shepherd holding the weak and watching over all.
Our Father is brightly shining. He shows us this each morning when the sun faithfully and predictably rises again and again and again. The craziness of the world around is woefully unpredictable. But the faithful brightness of our Father is the antidote to the madness in the darkness that surrounds us in this world. He will always bring Light into dark places. He will always be found shining His brightness into every corner of our aches. God uses His bright love to reach toward us. He never looks at darkness with judgement or fear — instead He listens for the call of His lambs — and He races towards darkness to bring His comforting Light. He knows He can show us the way out.
If we pause long enough and listen with our soul, we can see that even the daisy has the ability to give us a glimpse of the MORE that our Father is eager to share. It’s a beautiful MORE… and imagine, it’s possible, there might be fields of daisies in Heaven.
