Julie Lavender

CONSIDER THE MOUNTAIN LAUREL
by Julie Lavender

This week’s walk with God led my feet along mountain paths at Ridgecrest, North Carolina, where I attended the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. The lodge where I slept – only a few hours per night because I was pondering POV and marketing and fresh angles and such – had the moniker, ‘Mountain Laurel,’ named for the exquisitely beautiful shrub native to the Eastern United States, but not often seen in my neck of the woods in south Georgia.

Before I left the retreat center, I set out on a prayerwalk and found several mountain laurel shrubs displaying God’s glory.

EXQUISITE BEAUTY

Mountain laurel flowers burst forth in clusters during May or June and look like five-sided cups. Interestingly, the bell-shaped blossoms distribute pollen in an unusual manner. The stamens, arched and tips folded under the rim of the bell, catapult pollen into the air when the weight of an insect releases it from underneath the flower.

Mountain laurel is a shade-tolerant plant and thrives even when it’s overshadowed by taller, bushier shrubs and trees.

The mountain laurel retains its glossy-green leaves throughout the winter, showing signs of life, when other trees and shrubs have dropped their leaves completely, or the ones remaining wither and curl or turn brown and die.

NOT JUST SURVIVE .... THRIVE

The mountain laurel not only survives, but thrives in its niche. God designed it that way in His infinite wisdom.

A lesson for me, on my walk with God in the mountains of Ridgecrest.

God meant for me to thrive, even if I’m temporarily overshadowed by people or events surrounding me. I can and should blossom in the shade – displaying God’s glory for all to see.

And when hardships come, like the harsh cold of a winter season, I pray that I’ll continue to show signs of life, of Christ’s life within me, and that perhaps my glossy demeanor might encourage others around me, someone who might be withering under the weight of the cold.

Because God designed me that way, to thrive in my niche under His power, not my own.   

  

What about you? What did you learn on your walk with God this week? 

Have you had the blessing of mountain laurel sightings where you live? Their delicate beauty astounded me, and I'll certainly look for them again the next time my feet trod through their niche of the world.

I'd love to hear what part of God's beautiful creation spoke to you this week!