🎵 Aesop’s Fables Month: The Rose and the Amaranth 🌹🥀
I sat on the worn but comfy couch and listened to stories from years of God’s faithfulness. Sister Loudermilk, as she was respectfully called by other members of the church, could recall with precision the moments hard times threatened and were answered by God showing up bigger than the problems. Her tender heart made sure she told these stories with passion that welled up tears in her eyes—and mine.
I visited this lovely elderly woman, and others like her, for the comfort and experience age gave her to share. When I spotted a framed picture on the wall, and saw a younger but familiar face tinted in sepia tones, I asked if it was her and, with her nod, exclaimed, “You were beautiful!” I didn’t fault her now-aged skin and gray hair, but rather a shocking realization of how time can change someone. But I wasn’t visiting her for that youthful beauty, I was visiting for the practiced and earned wisdom brought to her by the same age that now dimmed the external beauty.
All life and nature on this earth have the same fading properties. Every summer garden eventually tells the same bittersweet story. We tend to our prized rosebushes with devotion—watching eagerly as tight buds open into velvety, fragrant petals that steal everyone’s attention. Yet just as quickly, the summer sun scorches the blooms, the petals wither, and they drift to the ground in decay.
Aesop captured this fragile reality centuries ago in his dialogue between two very different garden dwellers: the dazzling rose and the humble, enduring amaranth.
The Classic Fable Retold—In 4 Parts
Part 1: Standing Tall
Along a quiet garden path, a sturdy amaranth grew firm and straight toward the sunlight. Unassuming and resilient, its dense, textured plumes showed no dramatic blossoms or perfumed fragrance, yet it held its deep color unyielding against the midday heat.
Part 2: Radiant Beauty
Beside it bloomed a magnificent rose in her prime. Glistening with morning dew, her layered petals commanded the admiration of every passerby. Praised by poets and cherished for her sweet aroma, she was the undisputed queen of the garden, radiant in all her earthly splendor.
Part 3: Lamenting
Looking over at the rose’s glorious bloom, the amaranth sighed with admiration: “How blessed you are, dear Rose! Your beauty and sweet fragrance bring joy to everyone who sees you.” But the drooping rose bowed her head with a heavy heart. “Ah, gentle Amaranth,” she lamented as her first petals loosened and tumbled into the dirt. “My splendor lasts only a fleeting moment. A few hot days, and I am withered and cast aside. But your blossoms never lose their form; you endure long after my beauty has turned to dust.”
Part 4: Eternal Blooms
Aesop ended his tale with earthly sorrow, but the Gospel rewrites the garden’s ending. In the celestial city beside living waters, earthly decay has no power. The rose is restored to flawless perfection that will never wither and never fade, and the amaranth stands tall beside her under eternal skies—blooming forever in unmarred praise.
~ ~ ~
Fleeting Glory and Unfading Grace
The world constantly chases the fleeting prime of the rose—youth, outward renown, and temporary acclaim that inevitably fades with time. But Scripture reminds us that what is built on worldly flesh is destined to pass away, while the promises of God endure forever:
For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was proclaimed to you.
1 Peter 1:24-25 (B.S.B.)
Do you see that word ALL next to flesh like grass? I’m getting to an age now where people will be shocked when they see the images of my youth, and my first daily looks in the mirror greet me with puffiness under my eyes that betrays my tiredness. But I’m praying the outward signs are also signs of wisdom born from experience and ready to be shared. May this blog be that comfy couch for you, dear reader.
See, we don’t have to despair when our strength flags or when our earthly seasons change. In Christ, our hope is anchored in a heavenly inheritance that does not perish, spoil, or fade away.
Where the Roses Never Fade
I’ve shared this since recently (in June), but it’s so fitting with the words “Here they bloom but for a season, then their beauty is decayed,” that I must share it again. Celebrate our awesome heavenly promise with this timeless classic on acoustic guitars:
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