Perennial cheer

In northern climates, where I live, sometimes you’re not too fussy about the first flowers of spring. These are my special ever-bloom, wood-and-paint tulips, which my husband brought home from a yard sale and “planted” by the sidewalk. They are poster children for this verse from Solomon’s lovers’ song: “See! The Winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come” (Song of Songs 2:11-12).

Admittedly, this was written by someone who knew what it was like to be madly in love. The sun shines brighter, the stars twinkle more, the flowers are brighter…. All I can say is that the little gal who inspired this ancient love-poem must have been something else!

As for my wooden tulips: yes, they’re fake. But in their own way they bring cheer to a time of year when we’ve had our fill of winter cold and gray. As I pulled dead leaves away from them the other day, I thought of someone else who provided desperately-needed cheer. His name was a tongue-twister, Onesiphorus [On-eh-SIF-o-rus], which meant “benefit-bringing” or “profit-bearing,” something he certainly lived up to.

His biography, about the size of a fingernail clipping, pops up in 2 Timothy 1:17-18, where Paul says, “May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me.” Second Timothy was the last letter Paul wrote from a Roman prison, and it was posted to Ephesus (today’s Turkey) where his protégé Timothy pastored the church Onesiphorus’s family attended.

The virtue of compassion apparently ran strong in Onesiphorus’s character. Coming to Rome—whether for business or just to help Paul, we’re not told--he risked imprisonment himself in seeking out a well-known prisoner. The Bible is silent on what he did to “refresh” Paul. He likely encouraged Paul with good reports from the church and by bringing food, clothing and medicine. The last phrase, “He searched hard for me until he found me,” reveals his persistence. Rome was full of dirty holes to stash its “undesirables,” and the only way to research Paul’s whereabouts was by foot, prison to prison.

Even today, Onesiphorus provides us with a role model of caring for those in physical and emotional prisons. Sometimes, they’re appreciative (as Paul certainly was of Onesiphorus). Sometimes our tenure of helping individuals may seem like a winter that never ends. But God sees it all in His greater plan.

So, ready for spring? Hurting yourself? Seek out someone hurting more and be a bright tulip in their lives, a cheer in someone’s winter…an Onesiphorus.