Maybe I was wrong in my conclusion. As I looked over my freshly planted marigolds, I noticed one poor plant had been broken and the stem with flower attached, now lay on its side, starting to wither. I concluded right away that it was another case of death by basketball- a serial flower killer has been on the loose at our house for years with his round-ball weapon of choice and now another innocent victim lay dying in the sun.
Slightly irritated I broke off the flowered stem and jammed it into the ground next to another plant. I then pulled out the rest of the plant and replanted another marigold. I watered down the bed and called it good. A couple days later I noticed the stem I had stuck in the ground wasn't giving up. Its flower still shown bright and a few new sprouts had sprung. I hadn't expected this and rewarded my colorful friend with another good dousing of water. Today stick flower continues to boldly hold its one lone bloom in spite of its fear of basketballs (just my guess- that is if flowers have the ability to fear anything in addition to rabbits).
I began to think of my stick flower as a lesson in encouragement and determination. Which then reminded me of this past Thursday's 'Portals of Prayer' devotion on encouragement- one of my favorite topics. As we all know (not), June 11 was St. Barnabas Feast Day and St. B was noted as being an encourager. Acts 11:23 is evidence of this as it tells us 'he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord.' So what can we learn about encouragement from Barnabas?
It turns out the very name 'Barnabas' means encourager, exhorter, consoler. We learn in Acts 4:36 that the disciples gave Barnabas this new name. How great to be recognized as such an encourager that your name gets changed! I can just hear the conversation:
Peter: 'Hey Joe, the boys and I have decided to change your name.'
Joe: 'Really. Why's that?'
Peter: 'Oh, just a little something Jesus started. He changed mine from Simon to Pete, and Saul's to Paul.'
Joe: 'Let me hear it first, I don't want some goofy name like Keith or Obama.'
Peter: 'Heavens no, we've decided on Barney. No, let's be a little more formal, you are now Barnabas- you know, the encourager.'
Barnabas: 'That's cool, I like that name. Thanks Rocky- by the way, great sermon you delivered on Pentecost, keep up the good work.'
Peter: 'Hey Doc, jot this down will you for that Acts book you're writing. We just changed Joe's name to Barnabas.'
Some think Barnabas was converted on Pentecost, others think Barnabas was one of Jesus' 70 disciples and his encouragement, what some call his edification, exhortation and consolation skills caused him to rise to the top. Acts 4 tells us he sold some land and laid the proceeds at the disciples' feet. Maybe that's the first part of being an encourager- buying in. Believing in something, in this case Someone, so much that you redeem your time and things to tell others all about it. To encourage others, we (by the power of the Holy Spirit) need to do just that, 'buy in', 'focus in' and 'get strong in' our faith.
Barnabas also encouraged the disciples to accept the 'new' Paul and later is an encouragement to John Mark after he fails in a missionary trip. From this we learn that encouragers help those new in the faith and lift up those who have fallen or made a mistake. I wish we were all better at being this kind of an encourager. Saint Luke goes on later to describe Barnabas as a good man full of the Holy Spirit and faith. Not many get such a wonderful description in the Bible. Clearly Barnabas was an encourager just by his everyday example- we should be too.
Church tradition holds that Barnabas was martyred for his faith. True or not, the point is that he was such an awesome encourager we now celebrate a 'Feast of Christ' day to remember the example he became for us through the power of the Holy Spirit. As our Lutheran teachings say he and other saints have 'become a kind of living "stained-glass windows" through whom the light of Christ now shines on us'. Or maybe we could say Barnabas is like a flower that continues to encourage and bloom long after it has been broken off…. by a basketball. Or maybe not. I encourage you to be an encourager this week, to bloom where you are planted and to let the light of Christ shine through you! See you at the encouraging encouragers meeting this Sunday.
Blest Regards,
kp
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