Letting Children Blossom at Their Own Speeds
Good Morning, Mamas! If you have enjoyed my series on President Coolidge and would like to share the entire series with others, our son John has created a special page on my blog site with links to all nine articles. I have enjoyed learning new things about the Coolidges and have saved several websites that I found during my research to read or watch later. Coolidge was like every other person who has ever lived with good traits and things he needed to improve, but I am praying for God to send us a leader like Calvin Coolidge again.
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Back in 2015, I wrote my first post that compared children to the pink roses in my garden. In that post, I noted that one day when I took several pictures of roses on a single bush, the roses were like children. Some were buds. Others were opening just a bit. Some were halfway there. One was in full bloom. I reminded mamas that each of those roses was exactly where it was supposed to be. No one was there asking why those roses were not all exactly the same. No one was making a single rose feel inferior because it was not at the same stage as the others.
We know that roses bloom at different times. We are okay with that. We even celebrate it because those different blooming times give us a longer time to enjoy their blooming season.
How sad that some children grow up surrounded by comparisons every day with no one rejoicing about their individual blooming times.
Last week I realized that our old fashioned hibiscus plants illustrate the same truth—perhaps even more dramatically. I took the following photos last Friday morning, Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon.
It is hard to get a good photo of the entire group of hibiscuses. These plants are most impressive when you see their blooms up close.
Multiple stems branch out in many directions. The tallest one is over 7½ feet.
The stems are smooth and are a reddish color.
I remember buying four plants at a greenhouse many years ago. I promptly forgot what kind of plant they were and watched with interest as the four stems grew upward. It was some time before they bloomed. As I watched the leaves grow, I became a bit frightened that I had perhaps inadvertently purchased marijuana. The leaves looked like photos I had seen of marijuana leaves. I was grateful when those four plants began to produce their giant red blooms later in the summer. It was a few years before an older friend from church saw them and told me that they were old fashioned hibiscuses.
Year after year, I have marveled as they have produced more stems and hundreds of those beautiful red blooms.
Like the pink rose bush nearby, I can see buds and blooms at various stages all at the same time.
Each year I stand and gaze in wonder at what God does each day on our old fashioned hibiscuses.
I am grateful that every day you can watch each of your children blossom at his or her own speed—even if speed isn’t a word that ever feels appropriate for what you are watching. You not only get to watch. You even get to rejoice as each petal unfolds.
Joseph and Mary got to watch Jesus do that.
When they had performed everythingÂ
according to the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee,
to their own city of Nazareth.Â
The Child continued to grow and become strong,Â
increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.
Luke 2:39-40