Blooming Season

My Knock-Out Roses look as if they've been knocked out!   After blooming profusely and beautifully for a month or more, they have been looking worse than the last rose of summer!  But today I have a glimmer of hope. Fresh blossoms are beginning to appear after weeks of blah!

I was worried that something could be wrong when I saw other bushes around town blooming brightly.  I even looked up info online and found that they do that sometimes and bloom in cycles, but this cycle seemed to be lasting too long. Evidently they are having seasons within a season! In the three years we've had them, I don't recall that ever happening.

Ever since this type of rose was introduced a few years ago, it has become wildly popular, outselling all other rose bushes.  Though the blooms are beautiful and popping with color, they do have a drawback.  They hardly have any smell.  (Not that I miss that!)  With my limited sniffing sense, I'm all about the visual!  But how well I remember the "real" rose scent!

There have been innumerable poems and songs written about the lovely rose, especially in times past.  I recall songs called, "When the Roses Bloom Again," and  "Roses Will Bloom Again," and especially, "Where the Roses Never Fade."  The last song has a verse that says, "Here they bloom but for a season, then their beauty is decayed, I am looking for a city where the roses never fade."

The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3:1, "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."  As Christians, we obviously have spiritual seasons, and although we are to be always "instant in season and out of season" (II Timothy 4:2) in sharing the gospel, most experience an ebb and flow in the direction of ministry sometime in their lives.

I was reading about seasonings and spices recently and was surprised that spices have health benefits, especially turmeric, cayenne, cinnamon and black pepper!   Not only adding flavor and zest to food, they are also very beneficial nutritionally, without additional calories.

May our zeal for Christ never become like the faded rose,  and may we never lose the "sweet-smelling savor" of Jesus  in our lives.  We don't have to be "tasteless" Christians, no matter what season we are in, but always retaining the zest and sparkle of new life in Him.   In spite of the showy beauty of the Knock-Out Rose, nothing compares to the scent of the genuine article. The same is true of Christians.