Changing the world by revemup

Sorry I haven't replied to the comments from my earlier post, I promise I will, I just really have this on my mind and want to get it out there before it's gone. Funny how that works, seems the older I get the quicker I better get it wrote down, lol!!!!

I've been asked before (and often wondered myself) how a person passes through a storm. What I mean by this is, everyday I meet and/or talk with those who are struggling with things, whose life has given them a bunch of lemons so to speak. Often times, even though they are totally different people, we go through the same types of storms. Some are just a sprinkle while others bring hurricane force winds with them..... But I wonder why it seems one person can go through a storm and seem to bounce back fairly quick, almost unscathed, while others seem to struggle just to be able to stand?

Of course there can be MANY different reasons for this, but that is really not the intent of this post. This post will hopefully be an encouragement to those who feel like they can't stand under all the pressure right now. For those who wonder why they can't get through thier storm like Joe/Jane Doe who had a storm just like the one they are facing a little bit ago.... It came to me as I was pulling in my driveway from work today.......I want to tell you a story of my rosebushes.

When my oldest daughter was born, my aunt and uncle bought us an Arbor, with two climbing rose bushes to plant on each side in honor of our new arrival. These two plants were the exact same size, same shape and they came from the same place. To look at the two of them, you could not tell one apart from the other.

As I struggled to put them in the ground (our ground is hard as a rock!!!), I was very careful to plant them EXACTLY as it said on their card. I dug to the depth it recomended, and the exact width (I even had my tape measure to be sure, lol!). When I was finished, these rose bushes were only about two feet apart from each other, growing up this arbor.

Well, it didn't take long to realize that the bush on the right just exploded while the one on the left seemed like it was a struggle not to wither away and die. For a year and half we tried everything we could think of on the left side to try and make it grow like the other one. We fertilized, we watered, we put stuff on it to kill bugs (even though we didn't see any). We even resorted to cutting the right side down some so it wouldn't look so lop-sided!!

After two years, the one on the right had almost reached the bottom of the other side, while the one on the left barely reached the top (I think it was actually about halfway over the top.). Despite our best efforts, we really didn't see where all our work had paid off at all, so I decided to just let it be. I mean why waste all that time and money if it wasn't even helping, right??

Well, my daughter turned 3 this past March, and I am elated to tell you that the left side rose bush is almost as big as the right side, almost touching the bottom of the right side now. They are absolutely beautiful!! I'll try and remember to take a picture as soon as they bloom. You almost cannot tell a difference anymore between the two until you get up close to them.

You see, even though they started out the same, even though they both went through the exact same storms in thier lives, the one on the left just needed a little more time to reach the end. It wasn't that the one on the right had a better life than the other, or that the one on the left had it that much worse. In the end, time was all that mattered. It made it, it wound up making it just as far as the other side, and is just as beautiful!!

To those of you struggling right now, wondering why you are having such a hard time, worrying that you'll never make it to the other side like you see others who have..........Hang in there, trust in God, let those around you help you stand when you are unable, and you will make it. You just need a little more time is all. Hope you get a blessing out of this as I did when it *popped* in my head!!

*Special thanks to June for this post for telling me her illustration of roses and life. I think that really helped me come up with the idea for this post. Thanks!!! If you haven't heard it before, drop by her place and ask her, I'm sure she'd be glad to share!!*

Till next time,
Rev