Advent Week 3: Joy
December 15, 2024
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its result that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 1 Peter 1:2-4
It’s August and my city is languishing in the heat. Women aren’t wearing make-up because it melts off in 60 seconds. The pools are empty during the mid-afternoon heat, only seeing action in the cooler early mornings and evenings. Clothing is loose and comfortable but the people wearing the clothes look wrung-out and glisten with perspiration. Lawns are lonely as people choose air-conditioned homes over running barefoot outside.
But one thing in our city is thriving. Crepe myrtles are blooming everywhere, splashing glorious pink (along with some purple and white) all over town.
Years ago I was speaking with a landscaping guy about how puny my crepe myrtles looked. He said, “Oh, that’s because they are in the shade. Crepe myrtles like the heat!”
A few days later I transplanted one of our myrtles next to our mailbox in direct sunlight, far from any speck of shade.
Years have gone by; In every year, summer heat has relentlessly borne down upon our city.
Today as I was driving around town I admired the beauty of this unique plant that loves the weather everyone else runs from.
And then I drove home. As I approached our driveway I realized the most beautiful crepe myrtle I saw all day is currently displaying her glorious transplanted beauty next to my mailbox! She is radiant and flourishing in the August heat.
Just look at her…
This is how my crepe myrtles that have lived comfortably in the shade compare to the one that thriving in heat.
The Bible says we are to rejoice when we face trials of many kinds…when we face the heat…because the testing of our faith produces endurance. We are to LET endurance…the heat…have its result that we may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
My crepe myrtle rejoices in the heat and she LETS the heat have its result that she may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
As a result, she gets more beautiful every year.
We too are supposed to become more beautiful and glorious year after year as we LET the heat of trials produce endurance, as we LET the heat grow and mature us into more beautiful displays of His glory.
May the summer heat remind us all of this biblical truth. LET us thrive in the heat of August and the heat of life.
© 2015 by Oaks Ministries. All rights reserved
I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes growth.
1 Corinthians 3:6
2 Responses
Great analogy with this post, Laurie. Thank you for the vivid picture of what heat (trials) can do to refine us and make us more strong and beautiful! We want to become the people God created us to be: strong and beautiful with our heads lifted towards him in praise. We do not want to be less than we can be simply because we retreat to the shade! Again, thanks for the practical life lesson!
This is a great word picture for our lives. The shade is comfortable for a season, but it produces no fruit – and eventually much frustration! We need to be visible if we are going to touch others’ lives. Living in the light may be uncomfortable at times, but it brings relationships, purpose and joy!!