Roses are Red

The huge strong hands threw me onto the ground,
Then firmly placed me in the soil and covered me up.
Silence.
It was pitch black and scary.
You know, like the alleyways you see in the movies, 
Except that, all sorts of bugs and slimy things rubbed up against me.

Then a few minutes later gallons of water gushed down towards me.
Nearly knocking the life out of me.
The water was stinging cold and the giant drops splashed all over me.

Then came more silence.
Nothing happened.
Why am I here? And why am I being handled like this?
No reply.
I sighed.

Then the sun came out and dried up most of the water.
Then the man with the big hands poured more water.
And the sun came out again and dried up all the water, nearly scorching me.
And so the cycle continued day after day.
I didn't like it one bit.
It was not exactly executive spa treatment.

But then I started to grow.
Shoots started to come out of every part of my being.
And I developed tiny cute roots.

As my roots began to grow, suddenly some other shoddy plants began to grow around me,
They began to eat my food, and take my share of the water,
Very soon they were encroaching on my very space,
Privacy became a myth.
It became so bad, I began to feel like I was being choked by these new plants,
Then along came the Man with his green can of Weed Killer
And within a day my unwelcome squatters were no more.

Then the man came back again.
What is he up to this time? I wondered suspiciously.

Then to my horror, he came holding a fork and a spade like thing,

And started poking the soil all around me.
The soil started brushing up against me and it was horrid.
Then he started tossing bits of grubby soil all over me.
As if things were not bad enough the new soil had a stench.
Why does it smell so much? I asked pinching my nose.
I looked at the big pack he was holding and noticed the name MANURE as he wheeled it away in his wheelbarrow.
Why, oh why, was I going through all this?
This is not what I hoped my life would become,
cold, stinky and lonely.

Then came the insecticide, strong and itchy,
It made my head spin and gave me a slight cough.
But after a while, the bugs that had started attacking me
were no match for it,
I saw a few the other day lying on the muddy ground.

Then for a while nothing happened again,
It seemed I'd been forgotten
Useless and unwanted.

Then the buds starting coming out and the petals started opening,
Others like me, stood all around,
Our home transformed as people came from far and wide,
to behold our beauty at the Flower Show,
Beautiful," they exclaimed.
"It is a true example of His workmanship."

I sway my bright red rosy head and stand tall and proud.
There is no other rose in the garden as sweet smelling as me.
It has taken hard work and a lot of pain to get me to look the way I do,
But I now realise the master knew what I could become,
So he patiently and tirelessly worked,
so that I could become the perfect Red Rose.

______________________________________________________


A note from Gospel Girl

I hate gardening. With a passion.
Firstly it's hard work and hey I'm not a bug lover.
So I've always stayed clear of the garden and all its weeds, bugs and slimy creepy things.
Then one summer I decided I wanted to have a BBQ so I decided to fix up my garden. Ugh.
I went to the local B & Q shop and got several tools, and one of them in came in pink - aah a touch of girl power.

Then later that afternoon I set to work in the garden.
As I worked that day I realised that our lives are very similar to those of the plants in the garden and I hope that the tale of the Red Rose has helped you to see that the process might be painful and uncomfortable but God knows what He is doing and at the end of all the challenges and trials we face, we will come out Beautiful.