With the wonder of children

When I first went to Western Australia, I was amazed at the quantity, variety and beauty of the wildflowers. We went there in their spring – we could not have chosen better.

Wherever we went our senses were assaulted with yet more flowers, most of which I had not seen nor heard of before. There were Hakeas, Dryandras, Banksias, Grevilleas and so, so many besides. I had taken my camera and after a couple of days, it was red hot! At one point I was carefully taking a photograph of one flower and was told that there was no need to take it because it was equivalent to a dandelion over here. It was a beautiful flower, even if it was regarded as a weed by the locals, and I took the photograph anyway.

Later, as I read and learnt more about Western Australia, I realized the southwest corner of WA is a very special place – from Shark Bay on the Indian Ocean to Israelite Bay on the Southern Ocean is designated the ‘Southwest Botanical Province’ and is of international importance. The area provides WA with its floral emblem – the kangaroo paw.

Later as I thought about the episode with the WA dandelion, I remembered how, when our daughters were young, they would from time to time bring home a bunch of flowers for their Mum. They were sometimes the daises that I was constantly trying to eliminate from our front garden and sometimes, they were dandelions. What we adults saw as something to rid ourselves of, they saw as flowers to be carefully picked and given to their Mum – a sign of love.

I was reminded of this a few days ago when reading about a woman who was driving a car with the rear window shattered, as happens with safety glass.   When asked by a small girl what had happened to it, she said that a naughty child had thrown a stone and broken it. The small girl said, “but look it is beautiful, it’s all sparkly”. And with the sun shining through it, so it was. It looked like a piece of art, but it took a young girl to refuse to see it as damage.

During this period of time, when we have been limited as to how far we can go and when much of our time has been spent looking at our immediate vicinities or listening to nature instead of to vehicles, perhaps we have been able to appreciate our ‘dandelions’.

Is this what Jesus meant when he said,

“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”?

We hope you all have a good week approaching everything with the wonder of children.

Derek Hiscock

If you would like to read the Scripture verses at the weekly on-line Sunday service please contact Mike.

Also, let Mike know if you have particular prayer requests (for yourself or others) in these challenging and uncertain times and  If you would like to contribute a prayer, poem or reflection for the weekly Sunday service outline.

Revd Mike Perrott