By Rodney Marsh —
Down Under it is spring-time and here in South West Western Australia change is in the air, sea and land. The days are lengthening, the Humpbacks and Southern Right whales heading home to Antarctica and the land is bursting into bloom. The treasures found in this dry, infertile, ancient land are revealed at this time of year. The land hosts a diversity, uniqueness and richness in its unique plants. The area is the only ‘biological hotspot’ in Australia. A nearby National Park has 1800 different plant species and 80% of plant species in Western Australia are endemic (only found here).
God’s book of nature has much to teach us. For a short time, local ephemeral native orchids flower and then are gone. Some are pictured below. Orchid flowers are tiny, fragile, delicate and beautiful. Jesus drew this lesson from such natural beauty, “….look at the wildflowers. They don’t fuss with their appearance—but have you ever seen colour and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. If God gives such attention to the wildflowers, most of them never even seen, don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you?”
Posted alongside a photo of a local orchid and following the death of a young person, here is what my Pastor, Rev Corina van Oostende wrote last Sunday…. “We are fragile beings. Probably more vulnerable than these orchids. We are so much more complex, and need so many different things to thrive, so many things to stay health, and so many things when we fall ill. All these plants need is some poor soil, some water and sunshine, to grow and bloom and go dormant, in a life cycle that can go on for 50 years or more. Their thin stems bear the weight of three flowers. Yet come with and weather they don’t break. Our bones can break, and so can our spirit. In times of feeling fragile, vulnerable, brittle, some words of Psalm 139 may bring strength. ‘You have looked deep into my heart, Lord, and you know all about me….. You are the one who put me together inside my mother’s body, and I praise you because of the wonderful way you created me. Everything you do is marvelous! Of this I have no doubt.’”
If you’re curious to see more wonderful photos of many of the Western Australian native orchids flowering at this time of year, click here.