Tuesday, February 16, 2021
![rose[1]](https://thenoontimes.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/rose1.jpg?w=225)
Opening Our Petals
Listen, my faithful children: open up your petals, like roses planted near running waters . . .
Much like plants that flower and bloom, each of us has our own needs for sun and shade, heat and coolness. Some of us struggle upward, reaching for the nurturing light, fending off the weeds that threaten to choke us out. Some of us tussle with thistles or look for places to put down roots in the hardened ground of the well-traveled path. Others are blessed to find themselves in rich, well-plowed soil. No matter our place or time, we rejoice when we live in days of abundant water, we wait in patience through days of dryness, and always we give thanks as we open our petals to God’s loving kindness.
Send up the sweet odor of incense, break forth in blossoms like the lily. Send up the sweet odor of your hymn of praise; bless the Lord for all he has done.
In Psalm 119, God has sent us a loving letter of welcome, of initiation in Christ’s Law of Love, of consolation in the Spirit. How do we respond to God’s offer of peace and kindness?
Proclaim the greatness of God’s name, loudly sing God’s praises, with music on the harp and all stringed instruments; sing out with joy as you proclaim: the works of God are all of them good.
As we move through our work and play over the next hours, let us compose a list of gifts for which we thank God. Let us put down strong roots into God’s word. And let us open our petals to God’s light so that we might give praise and thanks for the good that comes to us each day.
Tomorrow, a prayer to give thanks for all of God’s works.
Image from: http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/intelligent-energy/italian-roses-bloom-under-rooftop-solar-thermal/
The Noontimes 