I’ve often felt sorry for the flowers and wildlife in a few classic stories. Imagine a hollyhock or a white-tailed doe standing tall next to our hero or heroine. Can you see the story’s torrential rains pound down on them too? Look closer. Maybe it’s time to live like a storybook flower.

Classics with real-life dilemmas, like The Wizard Of Oz, Peter Pan, Huckleberry Finn, and Swiss Family Robinson come to mind.

Remember when darkness filled the sky? How the whistling sound of wind and rumbling thunder lingered in your head long after it terrified your favorite childhood character? The way your heart pounded when you watched the lightning strike all around them?

Delicate stalks and stems lie twisted and bent beyond recognition under the weight of the torrents that mocked their ability to stand.

I imagine some broke, and died. But others decided to drink in the rain. Though barely hanging on, they chose to stand tall when the morning light reached down to hug them.

Refusing to be broken, these flowers resemble Dorothy, Peter, Huck, and Jack. Maybe they stood as an example, for you and me.

Exposed. Fragile. Weak. Strong.

But how strong is strong enough?

I believe God cares for the flowers of the field, the birds of the air, and the beasts on land. How amazing is it that He cares even more for you and me?

He clothes us with fragrant colors of His love to let us know we can stand tall like those storybook flowers that weathered crazy storms. We can dare to be rooted in truth and grow deeper in love and knowledge. We can set our hearts on The Creator—and love His creation.

What if the colors of our lives resemble flowers swaying in the wind? They and we may be here today and gone tomorrow. But the memory of their petals—or, our stories—can live on, like the orange tiger lilies we remember from our childhood.

I want to be like the Dahlia that dared the season not to end. The one that survived the soaking winter rains and bloomed even brighter the following spring.

Maybe our real colors shine brighter when we acknowledge our weaknesses. And maybe, what doesn’t kill us really does make us stronger … even when darkness fills the sky, or thunder crashes, or lightning strikes all around us.

Will you stand with me in the rain?

Let’s refuse to be broken, like Dorothy, Peter, Jack, and Huck.

We can believe and wait for tomorrow’s healing light. We can live, and love, and grow in the realization of who God is—and who He created us to be. We can live content, yet mighty, like a few of the most unique flowers He created.

I’m thankful for all His goodness and especially grateful He painted the fields of the earth with a multitude of color. May each storybook character, and each storybook flower, help our imaginations wander and soar.

Have you ever felt burdened by the weight of the call and resembled a fragile storybook flower in the rain? I’d love to hear your thoughts or experiences.

Please join the conversation here in the comment section of my blog.

Blessings and hugs,

Joann