Maybe God is a rose gardener

For me this year has been the year of the rose. I have been balcony gardening for many years now but I always steered clear of roses because I thought they were difficult. I'd killed a few windowsill mini roses in my student days and so assumed I was a rose-killer, but for my birthday I tried again with a Brass Band, a Burgundy Iceberg, and the classic Peace rose. My SO joined in the fun by giving me a Sally Holmes as a birthday gift. And I was hooked, head over heels in love with roses. Now I have seven full-size roses and a whole lot of minis on my balcony, and more planned/wishlisted, and they bring me so much joy. I was just out for a walk this evening and thinking about my garden, an was moved to thank God for a world that had roses in it. And then I got to thinking. I've wondered sometimes, if God made everything, why us? Why are humans special?

My sister loves animals. She is a dog lover, but her great love is greyhounds. I love to grow plants; fruits and veggies and flowers of all kinds, but out of all of them I am besotted by roses. It seems to happen to anyone who tends to things, plant or animal of vulnerable group. One cares about the whole but there ends up being this one thing that takes up residence in your heart. It doesn't always even have a good reason, you just fall in love.

We are made in His image. Is this a microcosm of what happened in the great garden of His universe? As He tended his growing garden, His world, His universe, did His heart just choose us? This one, this kind is special, beloved, the thing I will put my greatest care and my effort into. Does He worry over every dropped leaf and rejoice over every new shoot, the way I do as I coddle my balcony garden? Does He pinch and prune more strictly than He would other plants, in order that we will grow more beautiful in the long run? Is each bloom a source of deep joy? I think , I hope so.