The
Lilac Bush
“For lo, the winter is past, the rain
is over and gone. The flowers
appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the
turtledove is heard in our land.” Song
of Songs 2:11-12
As long as I
can remember I have always loved lilacs.
A few years ago I wrote a book called, “When the Lilacs Bloom”. It was a fictional Christian romance novella
about two people who were apart, but would meet again when the lilacs bloomed.
When I was a
child, I went with my mother to the cemetery on Memorial Day to put flowers on
graves. We took fruit jars filled with water and added a bouquet of lilacs and
iris or whatever flowers were blooming at the time and placed them on several
graves. I remember in particular one
grave we never missed, was that of an old soldier who never had a single flower
on it but for my mother’s jar of lilacs.
It was very important in those days to decorate the graves and many
called it “Decoration Day.”
It must run
in the family because one of my granddaughter’s wedding was entirely decorated
in lilacs. One of my daughter’s
decorated her bathroom with pictures of lilacs. When my mother passed away
another of my daughters dug up her lilac bushes; a purple and a white to plant
in the yard of her new house and they bloom beautifully every year.
When we
moved into our present home about nine years ago, I immediately bought lilac
bushes and planted them; a white one in front and a dark purple in back. The purple one was planted off the corner of
the deck in back where I could look out the slider window at it. Over the past nine years that bush has grown
to about twelve feet. We have bird
feeders out further in the yard which draw in the birds.
Now
to paint you a word picture. There is such a variety of birds that come and sit
on the branches of my lilac bush; so many that they are difficult to count.
There are bright yellow finches, purple finches, chickadees, cardinals, grosbeaks,
sparrows, orioles, blue jays, red-wing blackbirds, robins and even mourning
doves perch there. There are many more other kinds and we certainly enjoy
watching them from the dining table by the slider window. It may be just a bush but it reminds me a
verse in Matthew 13:31. “Another parable He
put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven
is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is
grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the
air come and nest in its branches.” God cares about each of us and also the
birds, even down to a place for them to rest.
The scent of the
lilac blossoms is so sweet, it reminds me of this verse in Ephesians 5:2, “And walk in love,
as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a
sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” The fragrance of lilacs brings to mind that
Jesus loved us so much and when we give our heart to him he passes it to our
heavenly father as a sweet smelling aroma.
When spring arrives, it reminds me of new life. As things begin to bloom it’s like waking
from a long winter’s nap. As the lilacs
bloom and send waves of fragrance, I am reminded that the Lord Jesus is going
to return some day to wake us up and take us to heaven where we will experience
new life and bloom forever. Listen to
this, “And now, dear brothers and sisters,
we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will
not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died
and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will
bring back with him the believers who have died. We tell you this directly from
the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead
of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a
commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of
God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then,
together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be
caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the
Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (NLT)
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