The Rose

Just remember in the winter, far beneath the bitter snows

Lies the seed, that with the sun’s love in the spring becomes the rose

The Rose, by Bette Midler

I felt that in my spirit. I was about to feel a little ungrateful today. I had some challenges this week and my birthday is today so I was about to get in my feelings about where I think I should be at this point in my life. I was about to get ungrateful just like the Israelites did in the Bible when God sent Moses to free them from Egypt. Remember after 40 years in the wilderness, they started complaining about what they didn’t have and even started thinking that being enslaved was better than where they were in the wilderness. Moses had to check them real quick. He had to remind them that the same God that delivered them out of pharaoh’s bondage was the same God that was with them in the wilderness. So he told them to shut up with all the complaining and to wait on God to guide them to the promise land. I’m paraphrasing, but you know what I mean. 

I felt like that song was checking me this morning. Had I forgotten all the wonderful things that God has done for me? The places and circumstances that He delivered me from, the doors that He opened, the way He made when it looked like there was no way in hell. I know for sure that it was God’s covering, grace and mercy that kept me and it’s the only reason why I can stand to tell it out loud today. You gotta grow through some pain to become your best self. Disappointment and discomfort will always be a part of the process so buckle up and brace yourself for the ride. I call them lessons and blessings because you’re gonna get one or the other. Complaining ain’t gone change a thing. You can’t cut yourself off from giving love or receiving love because someone hurt you. You shouldn’t stop yourself from dreaming because that business you poured your heart into failed. You mustn’t stop living because that person you loved dearly passed away. 

Life is hard, love is hard, living is hard, but living a life complaining, being angry and bitter is even harder. Do you know how much energy it takes to stay bitter? Do you realize how much effort it takes to complain about everything? We all know these kinds of people. Being miserable is a full time job for them. They can’t wait to bring the negative energy into a room. 

I’m just saying that life is full of disappointments, uncertainties and shit that ain’t fair and sometimes things are really out of our control, but the beautiful part is that if we trust and have faith that God still sits high on the throne; God can and will do the impossible. Even when it feels like all hell is breaking loose around us, He is still mighty and worthy to be praised. If we shift our thinking and discipline our mouths to not speak our negative thoughts out loud, we’ll begin to plant seeds of great expectancy. We’ll start expecting love, expecting to live a good life, expecting good health, expecting profitable business opportunities, expecting happiness, expecting so many good things to happen to us and for us that eventually we will have planted so many seeds of expectancy; that the harvest is inevitable.  

Just remember in the winter, far beneath the bitter snows

Lies the seed, that with the sun’s love in the spring becomes the rose