Roses and Thorns

Some people don’t like roses because they find the thorns a nuisance because they are sharp and get in the way when you try to handle them. To me these folk are just not looking past the jagged/rough edges, so are failing to see and appreciate the beauty of a rose in full bloom.    Roses can be compared in many ways to people: 

• we’re all different
• we come in different shades/colours
• we each have our rough edges or thorns
• however we each are beautiful in our own way

With roses it’s usually quite easy to see past the thorns quite easily. However with people it can often be very difficult to see the beauty in some, as on the surface they appear to have nothing but flaws/faults/rough edges. However everyone has good or beauty within them, we just may need to dig deeper into some than others to find that good/beautiful part of them, but it is there! The following fits in with my thoughts perfectly. I hope you enjoy it. 

Of Roses and Thorns by Haley L Carson

A certain man planted a rose and watered it faithfully, and before it blossomed, he examined it. He saw the bud that would soon blossom and also the thorns. And he thought, “How can any beautiful flower come from a plant burdened with so many sharp thorns?” Saddened by this thought, he neglected to water the rose, and before it was ready to bloom, it died.  

So it is with many people. Within every soul there is a rose. The God-like qualities planted in us at birth grow amid the thorns of our faults. Many of us look at ourselves and see only the thorns, the defects. We despair, thinking that nothing good can possibly come from us. We neglect to water the good within us, and eventually it dies. We never realize our potential.  

Some people do not see the rose within themselves; someone else must show it to them. One of the greatest gifts a person can possess is to be able to reach past the thorns and find the rose within others.  

This is the characteristic of love, to look at a person, and knowing their faults, recognize the nobility in their soul, and help them realize they can overcome the faults. If we show them the rose, they will conquer the thorns. Then will they blossom, blooming forth thirty, sixty, a hundred-fold as it is given to them.  

Our duty in this world is to help others by showing them their roses and not their thorns. Only then can we achieve the love we should feel for each other; only then can we bloom in our own garden.