Learn Life Lessons From Flowers and Nature Around You

Flowers, or any other nature around us, can teach us so much about life and who God wants us to be. It is no secret that caring for plants and flowers is not my strong point, and yet God has used them several times to teach me some important things.

Let’s explore some of the valuable life lessons we can learn from God’s handiwork today, just by paying a little attention.

What Flowers Can Teach Us

Be Humble.

One of the first lessons I ever learned from a flower was years ago when I was in my youth in Canada. One day while ambling through a lonely field, I believe it was in early summer, some tiny flowers at my feet caught my attention. 

They were small, purple, bell-shaped, beautiful flowers, though I don’t know what kind. Looking around, I noticed several of these wild flowers scattered across that lonely field. 

A question came to my mind. “ Why would a bunch of beautiful blooms be hidden here where no one sees and appreciates them? What is their purpose if they are hidden, and then die once fall comes, never ‘useful’ for anything? 

Then the answer dawned on me, like a thunderbolt from heaven. Their purpose is just to glorify God! They don’t need anyone else to see them. The individual flowers… just the fact that they exist as God created them, is an act of praise to their Maker.

I was convicted when I realized the truth of this lesson that God sent. Human beings often want to be noticed, to be “on stage” doing “great things for God” in order to be noticed. It seems a “waste” to see talented lives, hidden behind the scenes.

God sent me a reminder that day through a simple flower. Our purpose in life is to live for God’s glory, even if no one else sees us. The hidden flowers are seen by God and glorify Him by simply being what He created them to be.

We could also use the common phrase, “Bloom where you are planted.”

Often motherhood is a lonely, hidden job. Let us remember that God placed us here, and we can be faithful simply because we are living to glorify Him. As much as we desire to be seen by others, what matters is if we are doing God’s will.

Have a Right Perspective.

Another lesson God taught me came from observing the sunflower one day. First of all, sunflowers never look at themselves. Have you noticed that sunflowers face the East? They like to be in full sun and look at it as it rises before them. We should also be continually looking at the Son, and not at ourselves. The Son should be raised higher and higher in our lives.

We should also keep our conscience clear and let nothing come between us and the Son. Sunflowers don’t grow well in the shade. Whenever sin comes between us and the Son, we should clear it up at once.

Another lesson from the sunflower is unity. In a sunflower field, all of them face the same direction. We should learn to not let other things distract us, and all look to Jesus and have Him as our focus and what unites us.

Lastly, sunflowers bear fruit. By keeping our face toward the Son of God, and by being warmed by His love, we will bear the fruit of the Spirit.

We can be beautiful Son-flowers! Even in the busy stages of mom life, we can remember to keep our focus on God, and get strength from Him.

Do Not Worry

Matthew 6:28-29 (NIV), God’s Word tells us of another important lesson that flowers can teach us. It says:

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.”

Jesus Christ reminded us that God cares for every single flower. They never worry. We need not worry either because God cares for us.

Who God Is

When we take the time to observe them, flowers with their pop of color and other parts of God’s creation teach us who He is. As the Bible verse Romans 1:12 (NIV) says, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

Flowering plants and the natural world show us that there is a God who is creative, majestic, and all-powerful. We are without excuse before Him, because we have seen the glory of God on display.

There is Beauty in Hard Places

Another one of the valuable lessons flowers can teach us is that there is beauty among the sharp thorns. Roses are especially good at showing us this truth. So in the times that we feel like we are surrounded by thorns, we can look for red roses and bright spots and blessings. 

Thorns even protect roses. In difficult seasons of life, we can turn to God and trust that He is making a beautiful thing amidst the thorns of our life.

Some flowers also grow in the most unlikely places, such as little cracks in the wall of a cliff. It can be a bare place, but the flowers push through bravely. We can learn to bloom even when we are going through a tough time, when it hurts to love, by God’s grace.

Learn From Flowers and Nature

As you go about your everyday life, you may be able to catch glimpses of the beauty of God and who He is in the flowers and plants around you. Teach your children to observe and learn from nature too. It is one way our Creator speaks to us. 

Use the flowers for an object lesson for your children, using any of the lessons I mentioned above. (Be humble. Have a right perspective. Do not worry. Learn who God is. There is beauty in hard places.)

My word of encouragement to you today is to open your eyes, and ask God what He wants to teach you with the beauty of the flowers and all the nature around you.

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