More Than Survival

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado

I didn't grow up with cacti. I was raised with sky-scraping Douglas Firs, and ground hugging ferns. Moving to the desert of Colorado, cacti were a new experience for me. What I didn't know about cacti is how beautiful they are when they bloom.

These flowers are born out of drought.

"Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life." Revelation 2:10 English Standard Version

This picture of faithfulness to death is displayed well for us in cacti. They live much of their lives in drought. I have a Christmas cactus in my home. I neglected it for many years going months (literally) without watering it. After so much neglect I decided to pay attention to it, and as soon as I gave it water it sprang to life with beautiful flowers.

We will not get rid of droughts that happen to invade our lives, yet in the midst of these droughts (and dare I say because of these droughts) we blossom in this world.

Christ planted his cross, a dead piece of wood, firmly in the soil of our sin. It is through his experience of the cross that we receive the nourishment to bloom, even when we experience the struggles of life.

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Text and Photographs ©Copyright 2012-2014
 Douglas P. Brauner.  ARR.