aphids

Some of the roses in the garden started blossoming this week, so I decided to cut a few and use them to brighten up the dining area today. As I began cutting away I noticed that some of the roses had spots on them... so I looked closer... the spots were moving... the realisation - an attack of the aphids! I was very sad and grossed out! Nevertheless, determined to have flowers in the house, I kept on cutting and then brought the cut flowers back home and started trimming them and started pinching the bugs dead and used water to clean them off the roses. I'm not a big fan of gross little insects, and seeing them made me have goosebumps. I kind of felt upset that I hadn't noticed that the roses had been affected so badly before, I was just excited that they were blooming. The rose and the aphids made me think about our Christian walk... often we get very excited about seeing a person blossom and mature, but how often do we go up close and personal and really see how they are going? I mean sure the flowers get watered, like going to church regularly, sure that's great but there's more to that in life. In this case the aphids made me think of sin, sometimes it's not deeply rooted in a person, but the world is full of it and it's determined to latch onto everything. It starts latching on one at a time when no one is watching or realises, and soon lays a zillion eggs, and before you know it it starts to attack into the core... Sure there is still a bud ready to bloom, but this bud isn't able to reach it's beautiful potential because it has been maimed by the sin. The sin has managed to detroy parts but not the whole thing, so at first glance it still looks fantastic... but as you look closer there are some crippling aspects evident. Actually getting rid of aphids aren't too difficult, but the roses need to be looked after a bit more, a bit more monitoring and observation could have prevented the roses from being covered in silly bugs. It made me think of accountability, you don't have to hang out with a person 24/7 but having a person that actually cares and notices what's happening around you is invaluable. Anyway this is just a bit of a random thought that I have been pondering today before and after tonight's amazing Purity Pledge at church. (In the end after peeling and cutting off the wilted petals and cleaning the pests off, I did manage to have a posy of roses for the dining room... the result is shown below.)