Amanda of following an unknown path is hosting the Carnival this week. Our topic is “The Beauty of Flowers.” Very timely, don’t you think? What are the flowers like in your part of the world?

In thinking back to the time I lived in Japan, I remember how passionate my Japanese friends were about the plum and cherry blossoms. Everyone went to the park together to celebrate the spring flowers! I lived with a Japanese family for a year, and I remember being in awe that my homestay mother received a bouquet of fresh-cut flowers every week — delivered right to her front door.

She arranged them in a special alcove in the entrance hall, the tokonoma. She taught me that in the Japanese art form of arranging flowers, ikebana, the space between the flowers was just as important as the flowers themselves. That advice has always stuck with me. It’s the same as in music — the pause between sound is what makes the melody. I once attended a national ikebana exhibition, and I was amazed — not only at the flowers but at the people — they seemed to be in no hurry and would stop to stare at an arrangement, seeming to admire the perfect placement of every delicate petal.

I’m not very good at arranging flowers. I wish I were. My mom and mother-in-law have that touch of being able to make anything look pretty in a vase. I keep piddling around and make things look worse. I do have the knack for putting a small tuft of freshly pulled wildflowers in a vase on the kitchen table — I give myself grace since they look childlike. Those are the bouquets I enjoy the most around here. And like my Japanese homestay mom, they’re always delivered fresh.

Our spring is just beginning here in the Southeast U.S. We’ll soon have bright bursts of azaleas all over our hometown. The dogwood trees are popular as well, and maybe I’ll remember in a few weeks to blog about the spiritual meaning of the dogwood blossom. It has a lot to do with Easter.

Here’s a picture of some native azaleas and dogwoods. This little chapel is on St. Simon’s Island, off the coast of Georgia. Wouldn’t his be a nice place to sit and ponder the beauty of flowers?

True, the grass withers and the wildflowers fade,
but our God’s Word stands firm and forever.
Isaiah 40:8 (The Message)