The Irises

Beverly Juelsgaard-Fischer

2005-5-14

God often uses things in our everyday lives to teach us lessons or to speak to us regarding our relationship with Him. I believe this is for the Body of Christ.

Ever since I was a young child, I have loved Irises. It didn’t matter the color, it was just their overall beauty and grace that I was attracted to. I wasn’t until after I knew the Lord that a friend of mine came to me and told me that the word Irises meant, “seeing through the eyes of God”. Well, then they meant even more to me, because of my love for the Lord. Then I understood, why I loved Irises so much.

My collection of Irises, as an adult, began when I lived in the mountains of Virginia, where the Lord gave me a very special friend, who had an incredible garden of flowers of every kind. She could name every flower and tell you everything about it. She gave me my first ones, and they weren’t your normal run of the mill Irises. These were the huge German Irises, that were so incredibly beautiful, that it would often times just take my breath away in looking at them. She had every color imaginable and to receive them as a gift from her was like getting a precious gift from the Lord, because I knew how much she loved each of her flowers.

When I moved to south, central Virginia, many of my Irises came with me. For two years, they laid in the basement of the rental house that I lived in, so that they could rest and wait for the right time to be planted. Then the Lord gave me a house and I planted them in my front yard.

Through the years, I have added several different colors to them, which has made them even more beautiful. However, the color that was my favorite was the red Irises. Red Irises are not easy to find. I looked years to find someone who had them, where I might get them from and because they are rare, they are more expensive to purchase. Therefore, when I finally found some, I was only able to purchase a small amount of the rhizomes or tubers to plant.

One of the wonderful qualities about Irises is that they multiply on their own, year after year. Once you have planted them, you only have to divide them every few years, to allow them room to continue to multiply. They are very “easy keepers”. The other thing that is easy about Irises is that when you plant them, the rhizome rests on top of the ground and you just mound a little dirt around them, to support them, and they are very happy.

My Irises usually bloom all through the month of May, with the most spectacular show towards the end of the month, when the majority of them are blooming all at the same time. Indeed it is a sight to see! In their tall splendor and majesty, waving gallantly in the wind in all their beauty and grace.

Many things in our lives change over time. Earlier this year, I got new neighbors, who have a large family and therefore, family members are always dropping in at all times of the day. As I have grown accustomed to hearing the children laughing and talking, cars pulling up and leaving, and doors opening and shutting, the sounds didn’t bother me.

I went out to my flowers on Friday morning, to cut some of the Irises to give to a friend of mine at work. It was at that time that I discovered that there was an eight to ten foot section of the Irises missing. Just GONE! My heart leapt up in my throat, as the thoughts crowded into my mind, as to who would do such a thing? Who would come into my front yard and take the things that I had nurtured, and loved for so long? Who would have such a treacherous heart that they would covet something so much that they would come, like a thief in the night and steal them from my front yard? Why didn’t they just come to ask, if they could have some? For many of my friends have done that, and I have given many away over the years, and even planned to do that again this year. Then I realized that the greatest part of what was missing was the grouping of red Irises. As there stood one lonely red Iris, in full bloom, standing and waving gallantly in the gentle breeze. My heart cried out to the Lord, and I asked why and what is the meaning of all of this?

This is the understanding that I was given.

Lesson #1: Just as my Irises rested in the basement for two years, waiting to be planted, so do we, many times, have to ‘rest’ in the basement, or on the shelf, or wherever the Lord decides to put us at that time, to ‘wait’ to be used by the Lord. Though Irises are not given human characteristics, if they were, they too, would probably wonder and grow impatient, like we do, as to “Why can’t I go now? Why am I not being used? I know I’m ready to be planted. Why do I just have to sit here, while ___(you fill in the blank), is used by the Lord? Aren’t my gifts, as great or greater than ___ (you fill in the blank)? Isn’t it soon time, Lord that I, can come off this shelf or out of the basement and become useful? That I can be fruitful again, that I can be used for Your Glory, not mine? If we would just be willing to rest, and wait on the Lord for His timing, it would be so much easier on us.

Lesson #2: The Lord reminded me that earlier in the week, late one night while working on the computer, I had heard voices outside my window in the front yard, but thinking it was something going on at my neighbors, I paid it little attention.

Often times we take our relationship with the Lord for granted. We become used to things and we don’t pay attention to something that is important, when it is happening in our own front yard, or in front of our face. Such it was when I didn’t pay attention to the voices that I was hearing in the front yard that night. Thinking that it was something going on at the neighbors, I didn’t think anything about it. I wasn’t vigilant on my ‘watch’ and therefore, I allowed the enemy to come in to steal, that which had been given to me.

This is also like many in the Body of Christ, who become like the frog in the pot of water, that as it is heated gradually, doesn’t realize that he is being boiled to death, as he gets comfortable in the growing heat, and just dies a slow ‘comfortable’ death. They don’t realize that in their comfort of their relationship with the Lord that they haven’t grown in the Lord, that they have grown ‘comfortable’, and that they really don’t have any desire to make any changes. As why change something, when all is going well? Or is it? Have you really examined your life, through the Lord’s eyes lately? Have you judged yourself first, before judging others?

Lesson #3: My Irises in the front yard are very much like the Lord and His children to Him. He loves and nurtures His children, just as I did with my Irises. He encourages them to grow, or waters and fertilizes them, through words, circumstances, people and things, just as I did with my Irises.

Lesson # 4: The Irises do not have to be planted deeply, which is like many in the Body of Christ, they aren’t planted deeply in the Word of the Lord, and they don’t have an intimate relationship with God in the fullness of all parts of Him, as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They don’t have a deep ‘tap root’, that goes directly to the Lord first, for all of their problems and decisions. They think, ‘I am happy where I am at, and I don’t want to go off the deep end. I don’t want to be labeled an extremist.’ They are satisfied with ‘the good life’ as it is, and think they are too busy to spend time with the Lord. They are thinking, ‘I don’t want to turn the barrel upside down, because it might mean work on my part to have to fix things or go through a change’. They are complacent or “lukewarm” to the Lord. For, they aren’t going forward or backward, they are at a standstill. Therefore, because they aren’t deeply planted, just as my Irises are not deeply planted, it is easy for the enemy to come in and steal them, whether they are aware of it or not.

When we, as the Body of Christ, get like that, where we don’t want to change, we leave a door open for the enemy to come in to steal, kill, or destroy. We allow the enemy to use us, knowingly or unknowingly for his works, rather than being used for the Lord’s works. Therefore, when the Irises were stolen in the night, it is like God’s children who are stolen by the enemy to be used for his works, under cover of darkness or evil, rather than for the Glory of the Lord.

Lesson #5 The enemy is a master of deception, and disguises, that it isn’t always easy to see what is going on around us, unless we are constantly asking for revelation, to see the enemy’s plan and purposes. We need to ask that we would know the enemy’s plans in advance and also know what the Lord wants us to do about it.

What is your part? Are you willing to fight for what is yours and for others, and not always think that it is someone else’s job?

It is time for us to fight. We are not to sit passively and wait for someone else to pick up the sword. If you don’t know how to fight, then you better ask someone who does know how, NOW, or you will be in even greater trouble in the days ahead. There are many weapons to use. Many that we have not ‘traditionally’ looked on as weapons, but that are very powerful, when used for and with the Lord.

Lesson #6: As my heart cried out to the Lord about the missing Irises, I not only felt my own grief, but the grief of the Lord, as His heart cries out, each time, one of His children is ‘stolen in the night’ to be used by the enemy for the works of darkness or evil. I felt a huge emptiness, or hole in my heart, like I had been stabbed and left for dead. Which was what happened with the one ‘red’ Iris. It had been stabbed and separated from the others, and left for dead. Someone missed it when they took the others, as it wasn’t as large, or didn’t appear to be worthy. It, like the Son of God, was separated to stand alone gallantly in the gently blowing breeze, to say, “Here I am, Lord. Use me. Here I am God, Your will be done, Your Kingdom Come in my life.” Unknowingly to the enemy, the ‘One Red Iris’ was left to give me hope, to know that the Lord is on my side, that He will never leave me or forsake me, no matter what. It was left, just as Christ was left, to stand alone for us, to die for us, to save us from our sins. It was His Red Blood that was sacrificed for all of us.

Which will you be like? How will you let the Lord use you? Will the enemy steal you in the middle of the night; to be used at his will, (knowingly or unknowingly)? Or will you be like the ‘One ‘Red’ Iris’, standing gallantly in the breeze, willing to do whatever needs to be done, to move forward in the Kingdom of God, to sacrifice whatever needs to be sacrificed, that God’s Glory will be shown through you?

Remember from one can grow many.

Lesson # 7: The thief in the night, what have I done about him? I asked the Lord to forgive the ones that the enemy used to steal the Irises. I also told the Lord that I FORGAVE the ones used by the enemy to steal. The Lord said that we should bless our enemies. And I have. I asked the Lord to bless them, that they would enjoy the Irises as much or more than I have, and that He would give them whatever they needed to take care of them properly. Forgiveness, isn’t that what it is all about? Isn’t the most important commandment, that we should love our neighbors, as ourselves, despite their faults?

Lesson # 8: Learn the lesson now. For if you haven’t, it will be repeated and where we are going at this time and place in history, there isn’t time to have to repeat any lessons. This is in my life and yours. Learn the lesson now, that it won’t have to be repeated, as the next time, due to our hardheadedness and hardheartedness, the lesson will be even harder or stronger, and we wonder why we go through the same thing so many times.

Prayer: Lord, Let us KNOW YOUR TRUTH. ACCEPT YOUR TRUTH AND BE OBEDIENT TO YOU AND YOU ALONE. Father, FORGIVE US, for not learning the lesson the first time. Oh God, let us learn the lesson the first time that it would not have to be repeated. Lord, change our hearts and our mindsets, that we would want your heart and mind, more than anything else. Father, we give you permission to turn our lives upside down and inside out, if needed. Lord, YOU be the judge of that, that we would be used for Your Glory, not ours, but YOURS. Lord, WE CALL FORTH CHANGE IN OUR LIVES, THAT WE WOULD EMBRACE EVERY PART OF CHANGE THAT YOU HAVE FOR US. FORGIVE US, Lord, for not being AWAKE and ALERT, for not being VIGILANT WATCHMEN. Lord let us be vigilant in our ‘watch’, that we do not allow the enemy to come in, while we are unaware or sleeping. Lord, FORGIVE US, for any unforgiveness that we have in our hearts towards anyone. Lord FORGIVE US, for judging others, before we judge ourselves first. Lord let us walk in your forgiveness, grace, and mercy. Father, let us want YOU, more than anything else. Let us desire a pure and holy relationship with you, in all of your fullness, as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Lessons From the Lord: The Irises - Copyright 2005 - Beverly Juelsgaard-Fischer -- godsblessingstoyou@yahoo.com - This article may be copied or reproduced freely providing copyright notice, context, and contact details remain intact.