Sewer Flower

Sewer Flower

I spent a week in a crowded, Asian city where the sidewalks cracked. The sewer stench leaked out into the hot, muggy air. Out of a crack, grew a simple stalk, with one delicate flower. I touched it. It was as if that bright pink flower was the inspiration for all the luscious silks that come from that part of the world.

By the end of the week, the flower bloomed into a group of seven. It was thriving in a dirty, smelly world. It pulled nutrition from the defecation, and created from it a lovely fragrance. It didn't grow to be placed on the president's table, but for the pleasure of the person walking along the street.

There's something to learn from that small sewer flower. God chooses each of us to emit His fragrance to the people around us. It's easy to get disillusioned and bitter about the sin and corruption around us, but it's not the flower's job to point out the scum in the sewer; nor is it the flower's job to clean it up. It's the flower's job to take what little good there is from the sewer and be beautiful.

Freely give of the beauty He gave you until He transplants you to another street. And be careful not to suck up any of the bitterness from the sewer.

by Mindy Hirst (Spring 1999, edited Fall 2007)