I wanted to share some of the poetry that has inspired, encouraged and strengthened my heart over the years, through some of the most painful and the most sorrowful moments of life to some of the happiest and best. This one brings tears to my eyes even yet.
It is only a tiny rosebud,
A flower of God’s design,
But I cannot unfold the petals
With these clumsy hands of mine.
The secret of unfolding flowers
Is not known to such as I,
The flower God opens so sweetly,
In my hands would fade and die.
If I cannot unfold a rosebud,
This flower of God’s design,
Then how can I have wisdom
To unfold this life of mine?
So I’ll trust Him for His leading
Each moment of every day
And I’ll look to Him for His guidance
Each step of the pilgrim way.
For the pathway that lies before me
My heavenly Father knows
I’ll trust Him to unfold the moments
Just as He unfolds the rose.
~Selma Swanson
Girls, let Him unfold the petals of your rose, and you can be sure that the fragrance and the beauty will be greater than you can dream. Even if you have a few wilted petals from mistakenly trying to force open a petal veiling the next unknown from your view, He still can make your flower beautiful and sweet. Just as He unfolds the roses…one petal at a time.
[Pictured rose from my mother-in-law's beautiful rose bushes last autumn.]
That is a beautiful and truthful poem, Chantel… God is our Father and He knows what is best for us! Thanks for posting.
Thanks for sharing this. Would love to use this poem in a bookmark or picture.
Thank you, Chantel! That was beautiful as well as timely! Such precious truths…
How beautiful – thanks for sharing!
Very beautiful poem, Chantel..so true we can not open rose petals, same way we can not lead our own life..only God can..amazing poem! thanks for sharing this anonymous’ poem! whoever wrote it was very wise
thanks!
Blessings always & HUGS!
In His hands, Jane
So timely for me!! Thank you, Chantel!! I’ve been really struggling with this– time to give my life back to God again and quit trying to force open the flower petals (or even to quit just trying to figure out how to make them open or what the full bloom will look like!
)
Blessings,
Laura
http://only-annegirl.blogspot.com
I recently came across YLCF, and I absolutely love this site! It’s the kind of internet fellowship I had been searching for for months!
This poem is a timely message to me; God’s been speaking to me lately about not trying to take the reins of my future into my own hands. He is trustworthy and good. What a beautiful reminder!
Thank you so much for sharing, Chantel…what a beautiful reminder (and timely for me, too!).
What a beautiful poem! A great reminder to those of us waiting for husbands: If we try to force anything, we will ruin God’s perfect story for us. If we let Him unfold the details of our lives and concentrate on seeking Him and delighting ourselves in Him, He will give us the desires of our hearts and unfold our beautiful story one petal at a time!
Beautiful rose picture, by the way!
~Renee
Thank you for the sweet message, and for calming my impatience that has so often cropped up as lately! A sign of my own failure to trust Him who truly knows!
“I’ll trust Him to unfold the moments
Just as He unfolds the rose.”
I’ve loved the image of a rose ever since reading Alcott’s Rose in Bloom. It is a perfect metaphor for the joys and sorrows of becoming a young woman. Thank you!
WOW thank you so much!! I really needed to read that tonight, God is teaching me trust and this poem put it in a new light that helped alot. Thank you for letting Him use you
Beautiful. How encouraging.
This is a beautiful poem! It’s such a good reminder to me. Thanks so much for posting this. And thanks too for this great website, it’s been such an encouragement to me. God bless you all for doing this!
Oh, I’m so happy to see this poem. Where did you find it?
MY grandmother actually wrote it before I was born. She wrote it back in the 1950′s. Her daughter, which is my mother, is till living at 91 and can verify this. So now this poem is NOT Anonymous.
Author: Selma Swanson
And actually the EXACT title of the poem is The Rose
Karen, I’m so excited to hear that your grandmother wrote this! It is one of my most favorite poems, and I am happy to finally be able to add an author.
I first found it on my mother in law’s fridge, hand written, no author. I later googled it, and found it listed as “author unknown” and “anonymous”. I’ll edit my post to include true author’s name now!