“Everything we could ever need for life and godliness has already been deposited in us by his divine power. For all this was lavished upon us through the rich experience of knowing him who has called us by name and invited us to come to him through a glorious manifestation of his goodness. So devote yourselves to lavishly supplementing your faith with goodness, and to goodness add understanding, and to understanding add the strength of self-control, and to self-control add patient endurance, and to patient endurance add godliness, and to godliness add mercy toward your brothers and sisters, and to mercy toward others add unending love.” 2 Peter 1:3, 5-7 TPT
Positive direction, patience, and perseverance, all shown, demonstrated and taught with unquestionable love. My Grandmother would say that she was blessed with a total of 32 Grandchildren, of which I am the oldest, so in turn, I was, and continue to feel blessed since in her love for us, she shared so many of life’s lessons. Her love for flowers and nature itself was for the most part her classroom. In the midst of hurt, she took me out to one of her beautiful flower beds; ‘life is like a bed of flowers, from a distance, you see their beauty, a closer look reveals a few weeds, but sneaking in and around the roots of the flowers themselves, weeds can begin to grow, with the intent of taking over the beauty of the flowers themselves. Their only hope for survival is to clear the weeds, not just attempting to pull them, but to clear them out by the roots, otherwise, they are only pruned, enabling them to have an even better growth. We, like the flowers, cannot live in peace unless we clear the weeds of our hurts and our fears, by their origin, usually to begin with forgiveness.”‘
In this passage, Peter is explaining how God empowers us, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, to live godly lives. Although our power to grow ultimately comes from God, our Mothers and Grandmothers with their demonstrations of life along with their love, being saturated with prayer, continues to provide our peace, knowing it can be ours all for the asking.
Heavenly Father, help us to remember the demonstrations of your love, and those shared with our Mothers and Grandmothers, and be ever so thankful.
In Christ Love
Margaret