THE UGLY PERIOD

 THE UGLY PERIOD

I have a lot of flowers right now that are going through their ugly period. Their flowers bend over, the leaves turn sickly yellow, then brown, and it looks like the plant is totally a mess. But it’s not. It’s just going through an ugly period. Some of us look at old grammar school pictures or teen photos and cringe. We say, “I hate that picture of me,” or ”Wow, that was a terrible time of my life.” But those were just ugly times, and I think everyone has them. But with Jesus, we understand that the ugly times can definitely change, just like with the flowers.  

 

Did you know that when tulips, irises, and other bulb plants die back, they eventually lose all their leaves, and even though it looks like they’ve disappeared, what really happens is that the old flowers dry up and the leaves die, and all the good nutrients go back down into the bulb to make it richer and stronger for the next growing season. It’s the same way with our spiritual growth.

 

It always kind of feels like ugly times when we do things that we know are wrong. But we can let them die by repenting of them. Sometimes it’s hard to admit we’re wrong. But when we do, the ugly leaves fall off, and the bulb of Christ in us just gets stronger and bigger inside us, and the beauty of it is that we get more beautiful on the outside too.

 

Colossians 3: 5, 8, and 9 tell us to “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Also, put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds.” We can choose to mortify (kill) all these bad parts and know that by doing so, we will get stronger in Christ.

 

God created the irises and tulips to let themselves die, so they can grow back and live even more fully. God also created within us the ability to understand and operate what the tulips do—make our bad parts die, so the good parts can be even more spectacular afterward.

 

Just like the beautiful tulips and irises, we all have times when we’re ugly. Even when we’re ugly, God sees inside us that we are stunning. He helps us through the ugly times so that we’re able to be even more magnificent afterward.

 

Love, Carolyn

 

And “the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance” (Rom. 2:4).

 

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