Flowers in Life

For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:5-11 ESV). I have been to a lot of funerals. And there are lots of flowers there, not just the kind with petals, but verbal flowers. You hear people talking about how much that person meant to them, about their strong points, about special qualities or experiences that touched the life of the person talking. It would be very affirming to the person if only they could hear it. If only they could, in essence, smell all those flowers that are suddenly coming their way. Mother’s Day has come and gone; Father’s Day is soon coming. Mary’s birthday is less than a week away. I can't help but wonder if there are those who I need to give some flowers to now, while they could still appreciate them? This birthday for Mary will be rather special. Someone asked what I had planned for the day. My first thought was some flowers and a special outing of some sort. That brought me to our reading today, "Encourage one another and build each other up." That's one of those commands from God that would be good to have up on the wall in a prominent place either in your home, at church, or in your office. Too often, we are very communicative about what we don't like that a person is doing. The criticism, the put-down, the sarcasm, the complaint they all come pouring out pretty quickly. But we ought to train our mind and mouth to look for and express what we like about that person, what we should thank them for, or what they've done that has helped us. We shouldn’t save that good stuff for the funeral. The people in our personal universe are people in desperate need of regular encouragement. How are you doing in giving it to them? Some of us came from a background where there was little praise, little encouragement, so it's hard for us to give what we never got. But you of all people should know how much it hurts not to get it. Ask the Lord to give you eyes to see the positive in the people around you and the words to tell them. When you praise someone, thank someone, compliment someone, tell someone the good things you see in them, you do what the Bible calls "building them up". The alternative, of course, is tearing them down. However they may treat you, your job is to be like Jesus and give them the gift of encouragement. Some of the difficult people in your world may be difficult because they've had so little encouragement. Whatever nice things you might say at a person's funeral, would you say them NOW? A pile of flowers after they're gone won't do a thing for them. But your flowers could make a BIG difference if you give the flowers to them when they can still enjoy them.