The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-04-30

done our best, then like the wild flowers,
let us trust God that he will do what is
best for u.s. After We have done our best
we have no moro right to worry about
our future than the wild flowers have to
worry where they are going to get a
drink or from what quarter their daily
meals are going to come or where they
are to find their sunshine or their nights
in which to sleep. l find all the more
Justification in the use of this figure be-
cause at times II seems to me that flow
ers, after all are not mere inanimate OBJ
ieets, but have a certain intelligence of
their own Tney seem to me at times to
be almost human in their desires
Suppose Flowers Could Speak.
Let us imagine for Il moment that the
wild flowers can speak What would you
think of a rose which two or three times
In a night should wake up, open its pet
ais and begin to CRY, saying: "Oh, 1t is
so dark! l cannot see. l wonder If l
will ever have the sunbeams again kiss
my cheek and make me blush?' Oh, no.
That is not the roses way. The rose says
to herself when she hears the angelus
tolling in the village: Now it is time for
me to say goodnight and so to sleep.
have done a useful days work. l nave
made honey for a dozen bees. / have
made the tired, sick mother, riding by
In her carriage, clap her hands for JOY
and say oh, what a beautiful rose!
| have been drawn in the picture of a
Paul de Longpre. l have we'll earned
my rest God will awake me in the
morning He will send to me the sun
shine in his own good time. l will now
say my prayers and go to sleep and trust
him"
What would you think if all tn wild flow
ers on the Jerusalem hills on the morn
ing of the blacklist of all Black Fridays
in the worlds history began to weep and
cry and to beg. Surprising that We should
hear them begin to moan: What Is the
matter? What is the matter? Why is
that great crowd surging forth from yon-
der gates to crush us and trample our
petals in the dust? Why is this darkness
over the whole earth? l. is not yet
night Is the end of the world at hand?
0 God, why are those rocks swaying I'M
derneath us as a cradle would rock under
a mothers touch? Why this awful light
in the garden on this early Easter morn?'
If ever there was a time when flowers
could open their lips and speak it must
have been then when their Maker suf-
cred But not with such words would
they have broken their silence | can
imagine their greetings as the Savior
stepped among them that morning in the
garden of Joseph of Arimathea. Sweet
and beautiful must they have looked to
him. and l can imagine his saying to
them: Swing your incense, wild flow
ers Swing it far and near Hold high
your chalice filled with sweetest of nee
tar that every passing humming bird may
have his fill. And then don't worry but
trust me. Just trust me- And If the
wild flowers trust God for food and drink
and sleep, cannot we do the same?
Lesson OF the Lilies.
Trust Christ. as do the wild flowers
Oh, why cannot we do it? What blessed
peace this trust would mean to our tired
hearts,. The other day l was riding out
to a cemetery with a gentleman who
was one of the pallbearers of the funeral
we were following. He told me his age.
In great amazement l said: why, you
do not look nearly as old as that. What
Is your panacea of perpetual youth.
Well" he answered Il do not know of
any except one. 1 trust God. Because l
fully trust him l never worry. | always
go to bed early and get eight or nine
full hours sleep. Then when l get up in
the morning l say to myself, Now, with
Gods help l will do the hest, the very
best | can Then, If l have done my
best and things do not come out as
WISH why, it is Gods lookout and not
mine. l know he loves me better than
l love myself. Why should l grumble
If he has better plan for me than l
have thoughtout?" Ah my friends, after
we have done our best, with Gods help
can we not trust God? Can we not feel
that God will care for us even as he does
for the wild flowers?
The Easter lilies teach us that a short
earthly life Is not necessarily an unim-
portant life. Even though our loved ones
were with us but few years, the influ-
ence of those years both for them and us
may reach on through the eternities.
Their lives and our lives may be as short
as the shortest lived of the wild flowers.
and yet the eternities themselves will
never be able to outlive them and us in
our heavenly joys Then Easter lily is
the symbol of the Christs resurrection
and of our own resurrection through
Christ.
The God of heavenly garden sometimes
gives his sweetest perfumes and most
exquisite garments to those of his floral
children who may be called the transient
beauties of this world. To some of us
our earthly lives may be as short as
those of the passing flowers. The night
blooming cereus blossoms but once year.
About o'clock at night this beautiful
flower. with its rim of most delicate pink
and It's white center. opens. In three
hours the flower is dead. The midnight
tolls its knell. The night blooming cereus.
although nine inches In diameter, dies of
old age after 1t has had but three short
hours of maturity. The marvels Of Peru,
better known by the name of the four
o'clocks. were the little flowers dearly
cherished by our grandmothers They
open late every afternoon, just at
o'clock. In olden days these flowers were
far more to be trusted as timepieces than
the ancient wooden clocks of the quaint
farm-houses. These flowers die short
time after the sun has set. Nearly all
wild flowers live but q few days at most.
Snowdrop melts away The trailing ar
butus shivers in the cold of spring ana
soon catches pneumonia and dies. Inc
biographies of nearly all plants can be
written in the few words with which
Jesus described the life of lily as the
grass of the field, which today is and
tomorrow Is cast into the oven.' The heat
of the sun may both incubate floral lie
and cremate the sriveled corpse In the
same day.
TIE Resurrection Truth.
But, though mans life, like the lilies,
may be very short, his heavenly life, the
resurrection life, is very long Christ
was only thirty-three years of age when
he was crucined. But Christ Is today
dwelling in heaven with our dear ones
who have gone beyond. Mother, by the
grave Of your little baby. | declare it.
Husband, by the grave of your dead wife.
believe 1t. Child, by the casket of your
father and mother. welcome this resur-
rection truth. Our dear ones earthly
lives may have ended. but their heavenly
lives have just begun. Oh, on this glori-
Gus Easter morn will you accept this
truth? BY placing your hope in Christ,