Spring Flowers

Read: Psalm 71:15-17

Jade, Leah, and their little sister, Izzy, joined their mother in the backyard one spring day. “Wow, look at all the flowers!” Jade said, walking over to her mother’s garden. “I love the hyacinths. I think they’re my favorite."

“Not mine. I like those yellow ones,” said Izzy, pointing to the daffodils. “They’re so pretty. Yellow is my favorite color!”

Leah shook her head. “The tulips are the best. They come in lots of colors—they don’t just stick to one!”

Jade looked around at the garden. “There are lots more flowers than there were last year. Did you plant more this year, Mom?”

Mom shook her head. “No, but over the winter, they multiplied.”

“Multiplied?” asked Izzy. “What does that mean?”

“That means there are more of them,” said Jade. “That’s because the bulbs in the ground produced more bulbs, so now there are more flowers for you to see. Right, Mom?”

“Right.” Mom removed a few dead leaves from the base of a daffodil. “You know, these spring flowers are a good example of what Christians should be like.”

“Really?” asked Jade. “How?”

“I know!” said Leah. “Because Jesus gives us new life when we trust Him as our Savior, and we should bloom for Him.”

“Yes,” said Mom. “He puts His love in our hearts, and as we rely on Him to help us show it to others, our lives bloom with the love and beauty of Jesus. That’s how Christians multiply.”

“Oh no!” said Jade, looking at Leah. “You mean there are going to be more Leahs popping up?”

Leah laughed. “Or more Jades?”

Mom smiled. “You girls know what I’m saying—that we should be sharing God’s love with others and praying He puts seeds of faith in their hearts and makes them grow. It’s not more Leahs or Jades we want popping up, but more people who know Jesus and show His love to the world.”

Izzy bent over to look more closely at one of the daffodils. “I hope the whole yard is full of these pretty yellow flowers next year!”

“Yeah,” said Jade. “And I hope the whole world is full of people who love Jesus!”

–Shelley A. Janofski

How about you? Have you trusted Jesus to forgive your sins and give you a new life? Then your life should be like a flower and bloom with the love and beauty of Jesus. Show His love to others and let them know about all the wonderful things He’s done—like coming to earth and giving His life to save us from sin. Ask Jesus to use your life to bring others to Him.

Today's Key Verse: O God, you have taught me from my earliest childhood, and I constantly tell others about the wonderful things you do. (NLT) Psalm 71:17

Today's Key Thought: Show Jesus’s love to others