Schlumbergera

About a year ago I brought home a Schlumbergera Christmas Cactus for my wife. It was a small plant, probably not yet mature. It produced a lot of flower buds but they all withered and fell off. We wondered if we should just toss the plant out as a failure. But we didn’t. In November of this year it produced another prolific set of buds and they are now blooming. The flowers are not ordinary, they are delicate and very attractive. It is a marvelous display of beauty. Here we sat in wonder as we remembered that we had impatiently almost thrown it away.

Perhaps it deserves a prettier name.

Do we treat people that way too? Are we ready to throw some of them away because they don’t seem to produce anything worthwhile? It is thought provoking to realize how often Jesus hung out with the downcast, the rejects, the despised and the broken. He helped, healed and comforted them. Then he declared that whatever you do for “the least of these”, you have done for Me. (Matthew 25:45)

Remember that they too were made in the image of God, which means to have a mind, a will and emotions.

There are many people around us who need encouragement.

Henry Wiebe