BLUE...

Hydrangeas—especially the blue-hued blooms--are my favorite flower. But I am not their favorite gardener. The profuse bushes of decades earlier in this home have withered and died. Even healthy-looking transplants from greenhouses failed to thrive. Learning that insufficient soil acid might be the problem, I stirred concoctions into the dirt—to no avail. I was left with sticks and distant memories of the blue and purple pompom flowers that once ballooned on the shady side of our home. Disappointed, we planted some strawberries there, and I put a bouquet of fake hydrangea in the guest bedroom.

My horticultural ignorance brought to mind the advice I heard as a young adult, seeking to grow in my faith. I read my Bible, kept a journal, and had a prayer list. I later sat under some great expository preachers (two are still living in their late 80s--and still preaching!). But I wish I'd had more practical spiritual encouragement, like I found in a recent book by a longtime writer-speaker friend.

It's Lucinda Secrest McDowell's Soul Strong: 7 Keys to a Vibrant Life (New Hope Publishers). I met her long ago (okay, forty-plus years) at Wheaton Graduate School when we were both emerging into our early careers. Now she's a well-known speaker and author of many Christian non-fiction books which authentically and winsomely help scriptural truth bloom through practical examples. This book discusses seven character qualities of a vibrant faith journey: Live loved, be authentic, dwell deep, pray always, overcome pain, extend kindness, and share stories.

I hesitate to highlight even one of those qualities to the exclusion of others, but the one about overcoming pain spoke deeply to me. (Yes, me--who allowed beloved hydrangea plants to suffer!) Lucinda and I have learned, in our own ways, that pain is the unwelcome but necessary agent of growing deeper in faith. She admitted once telling a friend, “I don't really trust someone without a limp” (p. 105). By that she meant:….those who have been broken or wounded live differently from those for whom life is a constant picnic. We don't offer pat answers. We listen for what is going on behind the spoken words. We move forward each day even if our healing process is not yet complete. Our limp serves as a metaphor to show that we are real, imperfect people who have learned hard things by following God through suffering.

Lucinda took her book title from Psalm 138:3 (ESV): “On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased.” Written with blank spaces for personal or group contemplation, it's a fresh look at growing in Christ and serving Him. Or, to borrow the title from a devotional book by Eugene Peterson (of The Message paraphrase fame): “a long obedience in the same direction.”

By the way, Lucinda also enjoys hydrangeas. She has a plant at her home in New England, and wrote about it here: Maybe It’s Time to Sit in the Shade – Lucinda Secrest McDowell