He Calls Me Wildflower

I stepped out into the field white with harvest. My mind raced ahead of my feet to the front steps of the old farmhouse where my Best Friend, the Father, and my Comfort waited for me. I ran my hands along the ripened buds of grain as they brushed against the soft linen skirt covering my thighs.

I found myself giddy and little bursts of laughter began to bubble up from the inside of my heart. Just then, a hand slipped into mine and I looked to my right. My Best Friend came up beside me. The dark curls of his ebony hair glistened in the sun. His eyes captured me with tender affection and safety

He smiled sweetly at me and I laughed all the more.

“I’m so glad I decided to come here today.”

He laughed, too. “Me, too. We have a surprise for you.”

I squealed with excitement.”Let’s race.”

We bolted out through the wheat field towards the top of the hill. As I pressed my legs upward to the top I came up short at the sight of my little farmhouse. The white wash scrubbed away by time and the weather. The floorboards of the wrap-around porch were a faint gray. I squinted my eyes and drew shade over them with my hand to make out what I thought I had seen. The Father sat in His rocker on the porch awaiting my arrival. I could see the dark blue overalls in the shade of the wood-shingled awning covering the porch.

Still… I could not put my finger on what might be different. I felt my Friend come up beside me as I continued to try to get my bearings and my breath. “What do you think?”

I paused. looked to my Friend and then back to the farmhouse. Suddenly, my eyes danced across row upon row of brightly colored flowers in varying shapes and sizes had been planted all along the porch on every side of the house. My heart skipped in delight! “I love them…”

He took my hand again and led me skipping down the hill to my Father’s side.

~~~~~

A few years ago my husband and I went through leadership presbytery at our church. Presbytery is a time when leaders who are gifted in the prophetic (encouragement, exhortation, edification and comfort) pray over your names and then come to give you words.

One of the words I received had to do with Wildflowers.

She shared:

Well, Michelle, this is what I feel like the Lord wants to say to you. I just, what I heard was that you were a wild flower, perfect and beautiful. You dance with delight and I am so pleased. Your heart of worship is pure, true and strong. I smell a sweet fragrance around you when you dance. I just heard, “Dance, dance, dance!” I don’t know if you dance, but maybe He wants you to dance. Worship Me like never before! I want to spend time with you and I want you to know Me.

“A Wildflower is a flower that can be hidden on a hill only for My eyes or it can be for the pleasure of any man. That’s how I have made you. You minister to Me, but you also minister to others. You are soft and sweet and you draw people to you.”

I remember my friend telling a story about God telling her she is a Lily. She said she didn’t like that because, “What do Lilies do? Lilies don’t do anything – they just be.” She, like many of us in this life, learns daily to be comfortable with who God says she is and to embrace the fact that He loves the she Just Is.

Just like my friend, when I received the word about being a wildflower, I do not think I fully appreciated what God was saying to me about how He sees me.

That is until I read Bridgit’s blog over the weekend.

“God gives attention to Wildflowers” was the title of her post. As I read the Message version of Matthew 6:30-33 I was reminded that Matthew 6 also came up in my presbytery. CAN. YOU. SAY. DIVINE. APPOINTMENT?

Now read Matthew 6:30-33, ““Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.” (Matthew 6: 28 – 33 MSG.)

The presbyter shared:

Michelle, when I prayed for you the first two words that came so clearly were that you are gifted and that you’re treasured. And, the Scripture was in Matthew 6:21 where it says, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”(AMP) And I really feel like what the Lord said to me was You are…Because you have…You know where your treasure is. You know where your heart is. You have chosen to plant your heart in Him, and He sees you as a treasure. He sees you as just a very, very precious thing to be cherished, and He does cherish you.

This sent me on a headlong study of wildflowers in Scripture. As usual, the digging led me to treasure. Funny how God uses a string of seemingly unrelated events to connect me deeply to His heart for me by way of treasure map. Remember scavenger hunts when you were a kid… That is what it felt like as I perused the list of Scriptures in my Bible software that contained the word wildflower.

When God calls me Wildflower. He reminds me that Wildflowers can be out on the side of a hill in plain view, anyone can see them. Or… They can be set in a vase in the HOUSE where they are enjoyed for a season. Or… They can be hidden in nature – a treasure waiting to be found or simply for the amusement of God.

He has also shown me that Wildflowers are fragile yet resilient. They grow out of rocks, and often in conditions where domesticated plants would not survive. Wildflowers welcome new seasons, they are colorful and inviting, clothed in splendor – they do not labor and spin needlessly for their provision because God takes care of all their needs.

But then, the other day I stumbled upon Psalm 30:11 (MSG):

“You did it: You changed my wild lament into whirling dancing, You ripped off my mourning bands and decked me in WILDFLOWERS.” (emphasis mine)

OH. YES. HE. DID.

Now here is the sweet part. Remember my post about being my “Colorful Self?“

After my sessions with Dr. Mungadze Jesus came and gave me a garland of Wildflowers in all the colors of myself to wear around my head. He said, “The colors will always be with you right where they belong.”

You see, the colors represented seasons of trauma when my brain protected me from the pain I would have otherwise felt. They represent me – who I am and have been all along – at various ages when trauma and pain came in and my immature mind could not process it. Dr. Mungadze guided me through the journey to unlocking the colors of my brain and discovering that they all – in their unique way represent the beautiful and magnificent creation of God that is me.