Have you ever noticed the stillness of a flower? I don’t mean a lack of movement, but rather, a lack of striving. Flowers don’t strive; they just grow. Flowers don’t grow to please man or earn love; they grow for God’s glory; they grow to reflect the love of their Creator. This is what it means to be still in the Lord. Stillness isn’t the absence of movement but the presence of truth. The truth is, God doesn’t call us to earn anything.

God invites us to come to Him—to abide, to rest, to drink, to grow. He desires our presence, not perfection. When we understand our identity in Christ, we are freed from performance and invited into partnership. We grow not to earn love but to reflect love. Flowers don’t grow in hopes they’ll be watered; they grow because by the grace of God, they are watered. We grow because we are watered; we grow because we are deeply loved.

During my quiet time the other morning, I asked God if He was pleased with me, and I was led to Psalm 147:10-11.

His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor His pleasure in the legs of a man,
but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His steadfast love.

This revealed to me what I had in mind when asking that question. Am I doing enough? Am I doing everything right? Am I doing what’s needed for God’s approval? The key word here is “doing”, and God said in those verses it’s actually not about doing because it’s not our strength that pleases Him; it’s our motives and our heart posture. One of the things that separates God and man—man is impressed by strength, not God; God is impressed by our hearts. So much of what we do is rooted in a desire to please man that we forget God is different; He simply isn’t impressed by the same things we are. It’s not action that pleases God; it’s the fear of and hope in Him which drives us to action. If we are actively aiming to please God, we are pleasing God. It’s not that works aren’t important, but more important than the work itself is the faith behind the work. God inspired me that day to take my focus off doing everything; instead, focus on Him in everything I do. This is what will please God and ultimately lead to peace.

I began to recall the memories I had stored in my heart of this sweet little garden of wildflowers, and inspiration came over me remembering the joy it brought to me summers passed. This summer, once again standing amidst the flowers, I realized something. It wasn’t merely the flowers that brought me joy; it was the God behind those flowers who watered them, who grew them, who loved them even more than I did. The more I thought about it, I began to realize it wasn’t their growth, their abundance, or even their beauty that moved me the most. It was the awe of the One who loved them enough to create them and the reflection of that love displayed through their growth.

“Growing For God’s Glory” was inspired by the quiet confidence of wildflowers. With nothing to prove to anyone, they exist in complete truth and imperishable beauty. This piece comes in a beautiful bronze 11×14” Victorian frame matted to 8×10” and is available for purchase in my Etsy Shoppe and EBay Store.

kamillestreasures.etsy.com

eBay.com/usr/kamillegrace16

One of the greatest gifts we can give to ourselves is to learn how to be still before God. To master stillness is to abandon striving. To abandon striving is not to cease action but rather to become aware of our heart posture and what it is that is calling us to action. Today I want to encourage you to stop striving and start growing. May your life be rooted in Him; may your growth be the fruit not of striving but stillness, not intensity but intimacy, not toil but truth. When we grow for God’s glory, we will dwell in perfect peace.

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Today I’m intrigued

by the flower’s ways.

Existing in simplicity

she spends her days.

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Today I’m inspired

by the flower’s peace.

Laboring and toiling

I vow to cease.

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Today I’m in awe

of the flower’s beauty.

To live in truth

is her only duty.

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Today I’m moved

by the stillness of the flower.

She grows for God’s glory

not for triumph nor power.

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Ecclesiastes tells us

striving’s in vain.

So just like the flower,

I’ll dance in the rain.

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Though wonderful these flowers

I now clearly see,

more wonderful than the flowers—

He who created them for me