We're in April and it's good to see the dormant trees beginning to show their fresh green leaves once again. I love spring and the new life and new growth it brings.
But June is usually the time of year when as I walk down the road where I live I can smell a beautiful fragrance in the air - one of my favourites - privet flowers. It is such a common-or-garden plant with simple white flowers and for most of the time it goes unnoticed, but usually in June it comes into its own. Only a very small clump of it fragrances the surrounding area and from quite a distance away its beautiful fragrance fills the air.
Mostly privet is a plant that isn’t allowed to blossom, but kept trimmed in the form of hedges. Christians can be like the privet, allowing themselves to be kept in check by conventions and traditions instead of growing freely as the Master Gardener intended and continually sending out their fragrance into their own neighbourhoods. A friend was once told by a pastor to 'rein in' the Holy Spirit but we should give Him free rein in our lives and spread the lovely fragrance of Jesus.
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. 2 Corinthians 2:13-15
But June is usually the time of year when as I walk down the road where I live I can smell a beautiful fragrance in the air - one of my favourites - privet flowers. It is such a common-or-garden plant with simple white flowers and for most of the time it goes unnoticed, but usually in June it comes into its own. Only a very small clump of it fragrances the surrounding area and from quite a distance away its beautiful fragrance fills the air.
Mostly privet is a plant that isn’t allowed to blossom, but kept trimmed in the form of hedges. Christians can be like the privet, allowing themselves to be kept in check by conventions and traditions instead of growing freely as the Master Gardener intended and continually sending out their fragrance into their own neighbourhoods. A friend was once told by a pastor to 'rein in' the Holy Spirit but we should give Him free rein in our lives and spread the lovely fragrance of Jesus.
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. 2 Corinthians 2:13-15
