For the longest time I only knew the ‘Forget-me-not’ flower as a ‘Biddy-Bid’, I genuinely thought that was what it was called, and so every time I found a tiny fuzzy seed somewhere on my clothing, or matted into the fur of a beloved pet, you would hear me say something along the lines of ‘someone got a little too close to the Biddy-Bid plant’.
“so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11 (NIV)
This Saturday I attended a Women’s High Tea, and while the event had so much to offer, from delicious drinks and food, to incredible speakers and company, you might be interested to know that the thing that has truly stuck with me is a tiny card with a picture of a Forget-me-not flower attached to it.
The significance of the tiny flower card was that it was attached to an exercise. On a piece of paper was the image of a simple flower with blank petals which we were encouraged to fill with the things God might be telling us.
Forget-me-nots remind me of my Gran and her garden, and so the obvious word that came up for me was legacy, I’ll be honest and say that I didn’t dwell on that one for too long, though now I can say that I associate it with a legacy of love, of welcoming, and of acceptance. Those are things that have been handed down from generation to generation.
Probably more interesting than legacy, would be the next two words I was given, sneaky and subtle. Very rarely have I heard sneaky associated with positive things, but combined with the word subtle it gave me an image of something infinitely more positive than sneaky could ever provide on its own. I believe God was giving me a specific word about how I share His word, that rather than hit people over the head with it, I be like a forget-me-not and gently place the seeds of His word on people. Through the way I live, behave, serve, and speak about both God and my life, I can share who He is, and like a biddy-bid, people will walk away not realising that they have God’s word attached to them. That at the most unlikely of moments His word will appear, and that even when they think they have shaken it they will find more.
Now that is the type of gospel legacy I want to leave, planting seeds in a way that no birds can eat them and take them away, that no weeds can choke them out, and that no pathway can block it from taking root. Like a biddy-bid I want to share God into people’s lives in a way that means, before they realise what has happened, He has become deeply imbedded into their lives, and that even when they attempt to remove Him, there is always another seed tucked away.
I want every action I take to be a seed that reveals who God is to others, I want my life and faith to be like a biddy-bid, what about you?