Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1905-04-28

Strength ont or the ground and the mar
velous chemistry which can gather out
OF the same black soil the red for the
azalea. the purple for the dafodil. the
! blue for the heliotrope. the lavender
for the hyacinth. the pink for the car
nation ana tie white for the lily 2
Though Z &c are millions and millions
OF wild tioV e,s every spring and sum-
I mer, though tie fields may be covered
with dandelions and daisies and sun
flowers and goldenrod. yet each indi-
vidual flower shows Gods tender care
whether it be the trailing arbutus hid
ing in the mountains or the sweet mi
gnonette and the biuebells and the for
! getmenots and all the Trailer floral
beauties which are grown in the green
houses OF the horticulturists. IL God
cares for the inanimate things of this
world. for the many weeds like the
thistle. which the farmer tries to de-
stroy; il God cares for the daisies,
which cannot speak; for the moon
flowers. which only bloom Mt night: for
the sensitive plants. so sensitive that at
the least rough shaking OF the winds
their petals will fly shut: for the pollen,
which is tossed in the air by the sum-
mer breezes. that rose may be married
to rose. aster TO aster, mignonette TO
mignonette, clematis to clematis-sure-
ly God does care for immortal man. for
whom Christ was born and Christ died
and Christ was resurrected on Easter
day. Yes, God does care for you,
though you have been an invalid for
the last twenty years. He does care
for you. though widow. aud seeming.
ly facing a life of financial struggle,
with large brood of little ones at
your back He cares for you. though
you seem at this moment not to have a
friend In all the wide, wide world. He
cares for you, know 1t. This Easter
day Christ says: Consider the wild
| flowers OF the fields. As have cared
for the lilies. so am caring for you,
oh, ye OF little faithT'
God Loves the Flowers.
Christ loves the Easter lilies. There
fore he respects the work which these
Easter lilies are doing. AS he comes
out OF the tomb today he does not bend
over a little daisy or n forgetmenot
| and say, "Oh, insignificant flower, why
are you not a chrysanthemum among
the flowers or cedar OF Lebanon
| among the trees? Then the birds of the
air could come and build their nests
| among your great branches. Then the
great beams Of my cross could have
been cut out Of the trunk Of your tree.
Then house could have been erected
from your wood near to my carpenter
shop IN Nazareth" Oh, no. Christ
~
day TO daisy. For IL he did, the daisy
would look up and say: "Oh, risen
Lord, why art thou rebuking me? II
thou didst want me to do the work OF
cedar of Lebanon, why didst thou not
make it possible for me to grow into a
great tree?" Is n tortoise to be con-
demned because IL has to crawl and
has not the wings of n dove? Shall the
blind fish Of the Mammoth cave OF
Kentucky be upbralded because thou
hast put out their eyes with centuries
upon centuries or darkness? Shall the
bat be slain because IL has no ears with
which to hear or trout be excommu-
nicated from thy love and care because
it has no feet with which to climb the
river bank and walk dryshod upon the
land?
No, no. Christ donors the wild flower
because IL is willing to do the work of
n wild flower. as we should be willing
to do the work for which we were ere
ated and not for our attempting to do
the work which II is impossible for us
TO do. And yet as wander I'm and out
among these Easter lilies how often do
1 find men trying TO win the divine
commentator, "Well done, thou good
and faithful servant" when they have
neglected the work which God has
given them TO do and have been trying
ten, twenty. thirty years to do some
work for which they were never fitted.
They are not willing to do simple
work like thai OF the wild fiowers-the
simple. beautifully coiored, sweet
scented wild flowers. They are always
trying for some position they cannot
attain They are always dissatisfied
with what they are. Here. for instance,
Is young woman. She has a good,
ordinary. everyday brain. She Is a
wife and n mother. But instead OF
staying at home and looking after the
children and sharing her husbands
sorrows and cares she feels she must
be Joan OF Arc or Frances Z. Will
lard or Jenny Lind. She is persuaded
she has talents. She has had visions In
reference TO her true career" No one
can dissuade her from this idea. So
she runs around hither and thlther and
absolutely fritters away her life in try
ing to be n cedar OF Lebanon when
God wanted her to be n wild flower.
Here is man who is n good, ordi-
harry. everyday simple preacher. II he
would only be satisfied In the position
God had assigned him he would be
nightly blessed. But he wants 10 be
a cedar of Lebanon. He wants to be
a Savonarola, n Thomas Chalmers or
a John Knox, or he hears some OF the
great evangelists OF the world. and Inn
mediately he decides on going over in
20 Macedonia TO help the English, or
the Scotch, or the Welsh, or the Aus
tralians And what Is the rcsulty He
ruins his life for good lecause he il
not willing to be u simple wild flower
in Gods service.
/ Never Despise Humble Posftio..
Never despise your humble position
In life, because you are like the SIM
pie wild flowers. When the second
advent comes and Jesus. as the Divine
bridegroom. goes down among the
Easter lilies or the wild flowers the
Lord will not say unto the multitude
OF his children: Ibid you occupy a
great position In life? Were you a
noted general. or king. or statesman?
Like Hannah More, did you WELD a
brilliant pen? Like Nine de Recamier,
did you have a salon filed with the
leading thinkers of your landY' He
| will say, however: did you nestle, as
a clover top, among the green grasses.
as commanded you? Did you tighten
the sickroom OF some invalid when, at
my command. the messenger plucked
you? Did you breathe out your fra
GRANGE upon the coffin lid while the
minister uttered the committal, Ashes
to ashes, dust to dustY Did you make
the marriage altar sweeter and holier
when the young girl piucked you In the
III