Delaney Johnston penned our post for this week. Head over to the contributor’s page to learn more about her!
wildflower (n): a flower of an uncultivated variety or a flower growing freely without human intervention.
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Growing up, one of the nicknames my nan gave me is her “wildflower.” I’ve always had a thing for those lanky, mismatched blossoms that tend to sprout in the most peculiar places. Highways, roadside ditches, and everywhere in between – for the wildflower, the whole world is its greenhouse.
So, I guess you could say, I’ve always been pretty stoked about the name; but, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that it’s actually a lot to live up to—and oftentimes, I fail at doing so.
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I’ve always admired the wildflower for its uniqueness—it can’t be purchased with a swipe of a card or a two-minute Wegmans run. No, when people gift you a wildflower, they’re gifting you with their time and investment—after all, we don’t stop on the side of the road to pick flowers for just anybody, you know.
Lately, I’ve come to admire the wildflower for a quality I had yet to really notice before—its resilience. Wildflowers don’t require optimal environments to bloom. They don’t demand carefully curated room temperatures, dainty amounts of water, or finicky doses of sunlight to thrive.
Wildflowers just bloom right where they are planted—despite their surrounding environment. Come heavy rain, cloudy days, or fearsome winds, wildflowers still blossom and bring light + joy to the world around them. They are resilient.
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We all experience less-than-ideal environments. We live in a fallen world filled with pain, death, sadness, injustice, and grief; so, we should never be surprised when the weight of that reality bears heavy sometimes.
But even still, we can remain resilient.
We can remain resilient amidst seasons of uncertainty because of God’s sweet sovereignty.
We can remain resilient amidst moments of injustice because of God’s holy nature.
We can remain resilient amidst the weight of waiting because of God’s faithful character.
And we can remain resilient amidst times of sadness, grief, or loneliness because of God’s gracious Hand.
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I wish I could say that I always exemplify the wildflower’s resilience, but honestly, sometimes, I don’t. I complain despite God’s goodness. I doubt despite God’s faithfulness. And I grow discontent despite God’s providence. (Sort of like the Israelites, huh?)
But if there’s one lesson I learned this past year it’s this: though I am weak, He is strong. There may be days when I don’t *feel* like doing the right thing, like pressing forward, like being resilient. (After all, warfare isn’t nearly as challenging for those who choose to surrender.)
But it’s in those moments that God grants me the grace to serve + obey Him – not because of any strength or resilience that I possess, but because of the loving, longsuffering, and continuously sustaining Hand of my God.
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He takes care of the wildflowers + I know that He’ll take care of His children, too.
May He grant me—may He grant us—the grace to be resilient, just like a wildflower.
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