“The earth produced vegetation—seed-bearing plants of all varieties and fruit-bearing trees of all sorts. And God saw that His new creation was beautiful and good.” (Genesis 1:12 VOICE)
Early morning reveries, when the waves of the subconscious mind are spilling over onto your consciousness, can be revelatory. Recently, I woke up in the morning feeling convicted about snipping flowers from my yard. Before this moment, I had never given it a second thought. If I wanted to enjoy fresh flowers indoors, I would go cut a few sprigs off the plants in my garden and put them in a vase with some water. In a few days, when the flowers wilted, I would throw them away. My behavior was colored by certain assumptions: The flowers were mine, from my yard, planted by me, for my pleasure. Didn’t God create everything, including beauty, for human consumption? I ignored the fact that flowers had a purpose beyond my delight. They were part of the plant’s reproductive system. They provided nectar for bees and seeds for birds. Yet, here I was, thoughtlessly cutting flowers as if they were only made for me.
One of my goals is to do more good than harm during my time on earth. I may not be able to change the world, but I can at least do less damage. I can recognize God’s Spirit in every living thing. I can use what I need to survive, but leave the rest undisturbed. I can be considerate of nature. I can appreciate beauty and goodness without destroying it. In this way, I can honor God and His creation.
I also believe God wants us to take care of ourselves so my personal opinion about denying yourself of cutting these flowers to help your mind find happiness from their beauty is equally as important. If you feel you are doing injustice to the bees, butterflies, birds and the plants that do reseed themselves make an effort to increase the abundance so you are not denying yourself.
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