June 23, 2021: Blossom Like a Flower

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves” (Matt. 7:15, NIV).

My daughter is as cute as a flower, and, when she was little, she would dress like one too. One day she dressed and adorned herself from head to toe as a floral arrangement. She had a big yellow daisy on her white T-shirt, small, white and yellow forget-me-nots on her blue shorts and a flower design on her headband. I told her she was the cutest blossom I’d ever seen. Smiling, she floated outside to play with all the other flowers.

All at once, she turned around with terror in her eyes and darted back into the house. Hyperventilating and crying uncontrollably, she told me she had seen a bee.

“Oh sweetheart, bees don’t want anything to do with you,” I said.

“No, Daddy. They will come for me,” she responded. “They will think that I’m a flower, and when they see I am not, they will get mad and sting me.”

I told my floral daughter that although she was dressed as a flower and was the bouquet of her daddy’s heart, she wasn’t really a flower. Bees can smell the difference.

Like bees, who can smell what’s real or not, so can people. They can tell if you’re genuine and kind or only pretending under that Christian T-shirt.

So today, open your heart wide and truly care about those around you. I guarantee that you will blossom and that people will respond to your true, authentic, caring heart as never before.

God, may we open like a flower to You and others. Amen.

William J. Largo is the network director for Mission and Ministry at Kettering Adventist HealthCare in Ohio.