Sunday, October 26, 2008

I love this quote, and hope that God sees me in the same way. "When God made the world, He looked at the bare and barren hillsides and thought how nice it would be to cover them with some kind of tree or flower. He turned to the giant oak, the biggest and strongest of all the trees He had made, and asked if the oak would be willing to grow on the bare hills and make them more attractive. But the oak explained that he needed deep soil in order to grow and that the hillsides would be too rocky for him to take root. So God asked the honeysuckle if she would care to grow on the hillsides and spread her beauty and fragrance on the barren slopes. But the honeysuckle explained that she needed a wall or a fence or even another plant to grow against, and, for that reason, it would be quite impossible for her to grow in the hills. So God turned to one of the sweetest and most beautiful of all the flowers, the rose. God asked the rose if she would care to grace the rugged mountains with her splendor, but the rose explained that the wind and the rain and the cold would destroy her. Disappointed with the oak, the honeysuckle and the rose, God turned away. At length, He came across a small, green shrub with a flower of tiny petals, some purple, some white. It was the heather. God asked the heather the same question that He had asked the others. 'Will you go and grow upon the hillsides to make them beautiful?' The heather thought about the poor soil, the wind, and the rain,and wasn't very sure that she could do a good job. But, turning to God, she replied that she would certainly give it a try. God was very pleased. He was so pleased that He decided to give the heather some gifts as a reward for her willingness to do as He had asked. Firstly, He gave her the strength of the oak tree; the bark of the heather is the strongest of any tree or shrub in the world. Next, He gave her the fragrance of the honeysuckle, a fragrance which is frequently used to gently perfume soaps and potpourris. Finally, He gave her the sweetness of the rose, so much so that the heather is one of the bee's favorite flowers. And, to this day, heather is renowned for these three God-given gifts."