The Sun Dance

I'm a sucker for flowers. They never last as long as I want them to, so I almost never buy them from a shop. My wife can attest, I'm not a dozen-roses-on-our-anniversary kind of guy. Instead, I'll find them growing wild and just enjoy them for the moment, maybe pick a few for my little girl's hair. But now and then, I cave in. After all, it's a Winter-boycott in our family, so this week I had a good excuse to stop in and see Stacy at the Flower Mill.

I first met Stacy one day as I was outside raking the lawn, and she promptly walked straight up to me and boldly stuck out her hand to tell me she was opening up a new flower shop in town. I like it when people are passionate about their work. Walking door-to-door to let people know just how much you love what you do is beyond passionate. In my book, it's remarkable.

Since that day, I've had to learn to stay away from her store, because it could easily become an addiction. That's how beautiful her work is. I've even ran into her at several of our weddings, and her craftsmanship is unmistakable.
Now and then I have to stop in to her store, and she either lets me rummage to find that perfect rose, amateur that I am, or I give in and let her work her magic. What she whips up is always spectacular in comparison.

To me, that flower is a perfect example of God's craftsmanship. If you want to see what it looks like when someone pours their passion into their work, take a closer look of something as simple as a tulip.
The curve and the form, the vibrant color that stands in defiance of a gray winter, the way it dances to the music of the sun as the light floats across the window sill.
Our need for Christ is as natural as the need for these flowers to stretch and grasp as far as their roots will take them for the warm light of the sun. I truly believe if the flower could, it would leave the roots and the water and the nutrients all behind, just for one more shining moment in those golden rays.
I'm always left in awe about how something so simple can be such a perfect reminder of His ability to every year make all things new.
His work is also completely unmistakable.

If you take these flowers, that the bible says He's adorned more beautifully than all of Solomon's splendor, coupled with Stacy's eye for arrangement and a little daylight, the signature is a mastered sun dance of art imitating life.