Zulmira is the sixty-nine year old florist that lives in the little town of NÃne some ten kilometers from Familicão. She hasn’t been a florist all her life as she was a mother of two girls and a boy. She stayed at home to raise them as most Portuguese mothers did in those days. When she finished her duties of motherhood, she took up making floral arrangements. She has done that for last eighteen years. Yesterday she told me why she chose her trade.
“I was thirty-six at the time and due to have my second child. In those days most of the woman gave birth at home with the help of a trustworthy midwife. Everything was going fine and without much ado my second lovely daughter came into the world. What a joy the birth of a child brings to a mother. The midwife had an extremely good reputation, but for one reason or other, the placenta wouldn’t detach from the womb and I started hemorrhaging. I could see that the situation was serious by the consternation in the midwife’s face. No matter what she did, she couldn’t stop the bleeding. Finally, she pushed a sheet inside me and phoned to the hospital for an ambulance. I can remember laying in the ambulance and the nurse gently slapping my face to not let me go to sleep. When we arrived at the hospital the emergency nurse and doctor were ready with the transfusion. But as I had lost so much blood, my blood pressure was way down and the nurse after various attempts couldn’t find the vein. Finally, she called for the doctor’s help. It was at that very moment I left my body which I could see for a moment below me on the emergency room bed.”
“Suddenly I was walking along a beautiful road. It was beautiful because it was lined with the most wonderful assortment of flowers and trees that I had ever seen. I was so enthralled by the beauty. It was overwhelming. Never had I seen such marvelous, such exquisite colors and shapes and sizes. As I walked along it just got better and better. The trees didn’t have one dead leaf on them. All was alive and growing, but with an awesome beauty I had never imagined possible. Then, just as suddenly as I had arrived in this amazing place, I could feel myself swallow and I watched as I returned to my body on the emergency room bed in Familicão.”
“That was thirty-three years ago. That’s why when I could; I decided to become a florist. Heaven has the most beautiful flowers. These people that say that death is the end of it are so blind, so foolish. Even the imperfect creation here on earth cries out that there is a Creator. Look at the stars, the moon, and the sun; how they are all just working perfectly like a clock so that we can have life on this tiny little planet in a great big universe. Look at the flowers, the trees, the animals, and the human body, with trillions cells working together in utter perfection. How could that be? All this could not have happen without a Great Designer of it all. I have three different Bibles, one Catholic, one Jehovah Witness, and another one. They all tell the same story. But men have rejected the story and believe in fables, intellectual fables if you like, but fables never the less. We may have more materialistic comforts, but the world is worst today because men have forgotten their Maker. They have forgotten God and believe they have created themselves. They’ll have some awakening when they die. They’ll have some awakening.”
And you? What kind of awakening will you have? Will you awake to shine as a star forever because you loved and obeyed the Creator, Jesus Christ? Or will you awake to shame and contempt because you rejected his love and mercy and truth and forgiveness? It’s never too late to do the right thing. Open your heart today to Jesus. He’s just a heartbeat away and stands knocking on your door. He wants to be your friend and help you through life’s most difficult moments. He wants to give you answers so you can understand the reason for it all. Will you open up and let Him in? You could pray a prayer like this: Dear Jesus, I need help. I’ve done it my way, but things have not turned out like I thought. I have pushed you aside because the media taught me that the “straw-man” Christian was you. But, I’m lost. I need a friend. I need a helping hand. I need to be able to understand “why?” I open my life to you. Please forgive me for being so hard-hearted, for being so full of doubt. Come into my life and show me the way wherein I must walk and think. Help me to find faith. In Jesus name I pray. Amen
0 Comments:
Post a Comment