I used to be on display.  Customers used to see me … consider me.  Some picked me up and turned me to and fro, admiring my green leaves and glorious flowers.  I was even in a shopping cart once!  I was sure I was going home with someone to be planted in their flowerbed.  I knew I would flourish and produce lovely blooms there.  But the man settled on another type of plant and placed me back on the rack.

It was springtime; the ideal time of year to plant lupines like me.  Surely someone would want a hardy perennial like me, wouldn’t they?  Surely someone would have a place to display me?  More people checked me out.  Lifted me up and looked me over carefully.  Compared me with other lupines near me.  But I was always returned to the shelf; was always passed over for other choices.

The numbers of my relatives around me dwindled.  I watched as people swept them up and took them away.  Once I was one among many.  Gradually I was one among a few.  Eventually I was the only one.  The other lupines were all desired; no one apparently wanted me.

Spring turned to summer, and the days became hotter and longer.  Gardeners were now looking for different types of plants; their spring bloomers were already well settled and flowered in their beds. 

I was all alone.  No one afforded me even a passing glance anymore.  One day one of the attendants at the store raised me from my perch.  Had someone requested me?  Did someone finally want me? 

Apparently not.  I was unceremoniously dropped into the gloomy place under the display shelves where people never looked.  The sun barely reached me there.  The waterers didn’t bother to quench my thirst.  My leaves wilted; my life was ebbing away.  All I could muster was one tiny, green shoot.  So this is how it ended for the unwanted and undesirable.

But then came the morning when he came looking for me.  I overheard him talking to one of the workers.  “Hey, you don’t happen to have any lupines left, do you?  I’ve been looking all over for one.  I transplanted one at my place and it didn’t make it.   I’d like to replace it, if I can.”

“Here!  Over here … tucked under this shelf!  I’m a lupine!” I wanted to shout. 

“I’m sorry, sir.  I don’t think we do,” stated the woman.  “I haven’t seen any for some time now.

I was frantic.  “Yes, you do!  Yes, you do!  I’m right here!”

The man replied, “Yeah, I know this isn’t usually the time to buy them and plant them, but I thought I’d try anyway.  I’ll just check to make sure.”

And he started walking toward my hiding place, his eyes scanning both on the shelves and below.  He was looking carefully.  He drew closer.  He spotted my distinctive multifaceted leaves, yellow and wilted though they were.  He gasped, and he eagerly pulled me into the sunlight.  He lifted me up to display me to the saleslady.  “You DO have one!”  He was ecstatic.  “Looks pretty rough but I’ll trim it back, plant it, water and fertilize it.  I bet it will be gorgeous this next spring.”

He searched for me – for me! – and he found me.  He loved and joyed in me despite my horrible condition.  Before he came,  hope had been gone; death was certain.  But then against all odds and practicality, he came looking for me and rescued me.  He saved my life!  I’ll be healthy and beautiful, and I’m so grateful.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This is a true story.  (Other than the lupine thinking, of course.)  I was the man who came looking for the flower, and who rescued it when it was in dire straits.  It is now nestled in a special planter in my back yard.  While the time of year doesn’t lend to the flower flourishing, it is definitely more healthy than when first found.  (The picture above is the actual plant.)  The original sole shoot has grown considerably, and more are sprouting.

There was another who was hapless and hopeless, headed for certain death.  It was me.  But Someone came looking for me.  The Lord sought me in great love and eagerness, and he found me, withered and broken … as undesirable as I could be.  Detestable, even!  Yet the gaze he settled on me wasn’t filled with contempt, but with joy.

His search for me began before the world was formed.  He loved me already then!  He nurtured that love throughout history.  Eventually his search brought him to a manger and finally to a bloody cross.  His search continued as he exited the tomb, alive again, and as he ascended victoriously to heaven.  And even from heaven he sought me, providing his Holy Spirit and his Word to reach out to draw me close to him. 

It’s an astounding love; an incredible search.  In his grace, the Lord sought me and found me.  He saved my soul.  He nursed me to health and made me beautiful, and I’m so very grateful.

That same Savior has sought and found many others as well.  He continues to search.  He will always search.  And he will always rejoice when he finds hearts open to him.

How incredible to have One such as He searching for ones such as we!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ezekiel 34 – selected verses

“My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.”

“… This is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘I myself will search for my sheep and look after them.  As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. 

I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land.  … There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture … I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD.  I will search for the lost and bring back the strays.  I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak …’”