Blooming with Crunchy Brown Leaves

We have at least 50 zinnias in our flowerbed by the driveway.  I have loved watching all the different colors pop up from the ground  randomly and I'm kicking myself for not getting a picture when they were all in full bloom.  

The last few weeks, I've noticed the blooms losing their petals, the colors fading from vibrant to gray, and the leaves turning into a crunchy brown.  They are starting to look a little ragged, to put it mildly.

What's weird to me is that many are brown at the bottom, but the tops are green and still blooming.  When I first saw the sea of brown, I assumed they were all dying and would be gone pretty quickly.  It's been several weeks now, and they are still growing--despite their unsightly bottoms.  

Living here on the farm has made Jesus' way of talking in parables so much more real to me.  I've also read so many authors who have used flowers and planting and blooming as analogies for the Christian life.   I've debated about writing this bc, it's just one more parable type post and my thoughts are not new ones. You've probably read the same thing from someone else at some point.  

But I just can't let it go.  

I am drawn to those zinnias every time I'm outside in the yard.  Most of them are growing despite the brown--esp the ones where there are two or more blooms.  Once I trim the dead blooms, other stems appear with new buds ready to open.  

But those dang crunchy bottoms take away from the beauty with their withered-ness! 

A lot like us.

We can still look great on top even though we have some mess down below.  We can even think we are hiding the mess by all the blooming we are doing.  And the blooms truly are real.

But that brown just spoils the overall beauty of us.  

And then there are the zinnias like this one.  Something got in its way and it grew sideways for a while.  BUT IT NEVER STOPPED GROWING and now is reaching for the sun once again.  There is so much in this world right now that could stunt our growth, but we have the choice to either let it stop us or to grow through it until it moves and we can see the sun again. 

And I find it interesting that the flowers with more than one bloom are doing better than the ones who are spending all their energy into just themselves.  Those stems are working together and taking turns blooming--some even at the same time. They are uniting themselves for the beauty of the whole flower.  

There's so much going on that can cause us to lose hope and to quit or even start working against the other blooms on our same stem.  And here's the thing...I don't think it's the big decisions that matter as much as the little ones.  The ones where we choose to read that devotional today.  Or text that friend.  Or respond with grace when someone is unkind.  Or even ignore the opinionated post and choose to walk away without typing back a rebuttal.

I don't know about you, but I do not want to end up with my roots having to be pulled out because there's no life left in me.  I want to continue to press on--even if it means I have a few extra curves. I don't want to wither or even let the hard things overtake my bloom.  

I want to reach high and be a vibrant and fully alive zinnia. How about you?