Wild Flowers

"Once the shepherd stooped and touched the flowers gently with his fingers, then said to Much-Afraid with a smile, 'Humble yourself, and you will find that Love is spreading a carpet of flowers beneath your feet.'

Much-Afraid looked at him earnestly. 'I have often wondered about the wild flowers,' she said. 'It does seem strange that the unnumbered multitudes should bloom in the wild places of the earth where perhaps nobody ever sees them and the goats and the cattle can walk over them and crush them to death. They have so much beauty and sweetness to give and no one on whom to lavish it, nor who will even appreciate it.'

The look the Shepherd turned on her was very beautiful. 'Nothing my Father and I have made is ever wasted,' he said quietly, 'and the little wild flowers have a wonderful lesson to teach. They offer themselves so sweetly and confidently and willingly, even if it seems that there is no one to appreciate them. Just as though they sang a joyous little song to themselves, that it is so happy to love, even though one is not loved in return.'

'I must tell you a great truth, Much-Afraid, which only a few understand. All the fairest beauties in the human soul, its greatest victories, and its most splendid achievements are always those which no one else knows anything about, or can dimly guess at. Every inner response of the human heart to love and every conquest over self-love is a new flower on the tree of Love.'

'Many a quiet, ordinary, and hidden life, unknown to the world, is a veritable garden in which love's flowers and fruits have come to such perfection that it is a place of delight where the King of Love himself walks and rejoices with his friends.'

'Some of my servants have indeed won great visible victories and are rightly loved and reverenced by other men, but always their greatest victories are like the wild flowers, those which no one knows about. Learn this lesson now, down here in the valley, Much-Afraid, and when you get to the steep places of the mountains it will comfort you.'"

-Hinds Feet on High Places , Hannah Hurnard, pg 47-48

This is one of my favorite excerpts from "Hinds' Feet on High Places"

I felt it would be helpful for almost any woman to read.

I believe one of the most difficult things for us to do is to love without the promise of something in return. When we love, it seems as if we take every vulnerability within us and lay it on the table. We put up walls to protect ourselves but even when we think we are guarding ourselves, we have expectations. Whether those expectations are visible for all to see, or whether we are hiding them in the deepest crevice of our soul, they exist. And in this life, those expectations are seldom met.

It is easy to slip into self pity when our expectations fail us, mostly because we are taught in our fallen state that we are deserving. We are taught that the world owes us something.

But the important thing to remember is that we do not love to be loved. We love because we are commanded to. We love when we are wronged. We love when we are humiliated. We love when the world puts us up on a cross and crucifies us. Why? Because Christ did it first.

I have so many beautiful friends who have so much to offer the world.

And maybe the right person hasn't noticed. Maybe it feels like they never will.

But I encourage you all to continue being beautiful from the inside out.

Do not change for the world. Remain the wild flowers that you are.

Because even when no one else appreciates you, your father in heaven does.

You are the reason he smiles. And nothing the world has to offer can ever compare to that.