Ugly or Beautiful

I inherited a Dendrobium orchid and didn’t know a thing about them, so I was concerned when a “lump” formed on one of the thick ugly stems. I thought it must have a disease and ignored it, thinking if it died I would throw it away. Orchid lovers reading this will be horrified, but that is me. If something fails or needs a lot of attention, then I am too busy to fuss with it.     So imagine my utter surprise as the “lump” on my orchid got bigger until one morning it turned into a sort of bunch of grapes and in no time at all the whole “disfiguration” became a gorgeous cascading show of yellow mini orchids. It was breathtaking and quite a lesson to me.     We sometimes view people who are “different” in a way that I looked at the orchid: we don’t understand why they are the way they are. I teach Scripture in Government schools and often come across children who behave strangely. As I get to know them and “bond” with them, I learn why they do what they do. It is a good thing that the God Who made us is not impatient with people like me with my orchid.     It is a good thing that the God Who made us is not impatient with people like me with my orchid. He lovingly thinks about us all the time and he even temporarily gave up His heavenly home and his hold on diety to die for the sins of the world nearly 2,000 years ago. His death back then covered the sins of every person who will ever live. He then rose to life after three days and ever since has wanted us to accept His gracious act by loving Him and also those around us.     When we do this, we will see people in a totally different light — one that redefines what it means to be ugly or different or weird or strange. Instead, we see people with ugly problems in whom God is working so they can bloom beautifully — just like I now see in my orchids whether they are “lumps” or blossoms!

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