Enduring by Barry Hughes

As summer blazes on through July, my daily walks have witnessed the coming and going of various plants and flowers. Some early spring colors fell victim to the heat weeks ago. Trees have bloomed and dropped their flowers. Peaches have ripened and passed. The flowers that filled this space between a fence line and the sidewalk were mowed down with the grass one day a couple of weeks ago. I noticed their absence.

Then, suddenly, they were returning. From the scorched brown remains, new green shoots are springing up and broad leaves are beginning to unfurl. At this rate, in another week or so this bed will look as it did before the mower paid a visit. If the 100 degree days could not stop this rebirth, my money is on the flowers.

All of creation, including the human creature, has a way of enduring. The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians these words that described his experience: “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.” We have our seasons. We have our struggles. But we, too, endure.

Paul endured to tell the world his story, and to tell The Story that is still changing the world. May it be the same with us.

Peace.