Showing posts with label rosebuds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rosebuds. Show all posts

Monday, July 10, 2017

Give a Rose

A friend of mine always prefaces a compliment by saying, "Now, [name], I'm going to give you a rose."

She prefers to "give roses" while her friends are living and can savor her sweet words and be uplifted by them rather than to give a wreath of roses after her loved ones have passed away.

The Bible says gracious words (pleasant words, kind words) are sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. (See Proverbs 16:24.)

Give a rose to someone today! 

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Well-Crafted Stories

When a friend asked me to read the first three chapters (and the synopsis) of a fiction book she was writing, I gladly agreed. One morning I curled up with the 40+ pages and enjoyed a “good read.” Because I liked the two main characters she’d created and cheered for them as they grappled with painful emotions of the present (and the past), I was sorry when I reached the end of chapter three. I wanted MORE details about about how they’d find the true bliss I knew (from reading the synopsis) the author had planned for them. 

As I read my friend’s book, I recalled how much I’d enjoyed my few (and feeble) attempts at writing fiction. It’s really fun to bring characters to life and to choose what happens to them. I do a similar kind of thing when I create images with my camera. I get to choose what goes into the frame—and what doesn't.

God does that same kind of thing—only in a far, far greater way. As Max Lucado points out in his excellent book, When God’s Story Becomes Your Story, each life is “a crafted narrative written by a good God who is working toward your supreme good.”

God’s already written the book of my life—and yours, Dear Reader! We’ll just have to wait to “read” the remaining chapters!