THE WILD WHITE ROSE

I realize this is not a wild, white rose, but I did not grow any of those! But this is a heavenly blue morning glory that greeted me one morning outside our dining room french doors.

I found a book of poetry compiled by Dr. Bob Jones, Jr. at a salvage store and gave it to my husband. He frequently reads me a poem from it before we go to sleep at night. This is one of those that spoke to me:

It was peeping through the brambles, that little wild white rose,
Where the hawthorn hedge was planted, my garden to enclose.
All beyond was fern and heather, on the breezy, open moor;
All within was sun and shelter, and the wealth of beauty's store.
But I did not heed the fragrance of flower or of tree;
For my eyes were on that rosebud, and it grew too high for me.
In vain I strove to reach it through the tangled mass of green,
It only smiled and nodded behind its thorny screen.
Yet through that summer morning I lingered near the spot;

Oh, WHY DO THINGS SEEM SWEETER IF WE POSSESS THEM NOT?
My garden beds were blooming, but all that I could see
Was that little mocking wild rose hanging just too high for me.

So in life's wider garden there are buds of promise, too,
Beyond our reach to gather, but not beyond our view;
And like the little charmer that tempted me astray,
They steal out half the brightness of many a summer's day.

Oh, hearts that fail with longing for some forbidden tree,
Look up and learn a lesson from my white rose and me.
"Tis wiser far to number the blessings at my feet
Than ever to be sighing for just one bud more sweet.
My sunbeams and my shadows fall from a pierced hand,
I can surely trust His wisdom since His heart I understand;
And maybe in the morning, when His blessed face I see,
He will tell me why my white rose grew just too high for me.

--Ellen H. Willis

May I learn to bloom where I am planted!!