There’s a hanging basket on my porch that’s been a challenge this summer. I can pour lots of water on it, but within minutes the water leaks through the soil. Instead of the soil being saturated, the dirt is depleted.
For soil to hold water for healthy growth, it needs nutrients. Enriched soil naturally happens with organic materials – dead foliage, food waste and manure. Things that are smelly and gross. When they do their work, the result is beauty, health and vitality.
The words “pain brings beauty” flashed through my mind the other day when water was running off the plant after watering it. Without smelly and gross things in your life, faith is like the flimsy plant – shallow and depleted. You receive the refreshing water Jesus gives, but it doesn’t absorb. It runs off, leaving you longing for more, never quite satisfied.
Is there truth in this analogy? Can pain really bring beauty?
My experience says yes. A friend recently has chosen beauty in the pain of losing a child. A woman diagnosed with cancer soon after her teen daughter became pregnant has moved from hopelessness to joy.
My own experience of allowing God to work through pain has brought a stronger, deeper faith I didn’t know before the hurt. God used the stink and stench of pain to draw our family closer to Him, seeking and experiencing His power, mercy and grace.
Raising daughters is no different. They naturally come with a sweet beauty you don’t want spoiled or corrupted. A beautiful flower that should always bloom brightly. In order for their blooms to be their best, their soil needs to move beyond shallow. Their faith needs to be deepened with a dependence upon Christ when life isn’t good.
I want my daughter to be a strong beauty, not a delicate flower that can’t stand adversity. I want her to be saturated with Living Water that will satisfy. Achieving that means trusting God to work in our daughter’s pain, letting Him work to make her faith rich in the fruit of the Spirit, so only the best things can grow.
Written by Kelly Lynch
