June 13th, 2013 - part 2
Wanted to explain why all the pictures of flowers I've been taken. My grandfather, Myron Willis Gross, loved to grow flowers- his front and back yard was always so beautiful and a place I liked to be. He shared that love with his 2 daughters (one of them my mom). I remember them all raising Chrysanthemums and entering them at flower shows in Seattle. My favorite mum is the pale green spider mum- I had them at my wedding!
Rhododendrons are the state flower of Washington State, which is where I grew up, so they were everywhere!!! My pictures from my walk today had other flowers I love also. I will post a poem I wrote about color and why I believe we need color in our lives.
A World of Color
After looking at black and
white photos of Dad,
A little boy asked, “Was
there color Dad when you were a lad?
Was everything in life just
black and white?
Or was there color in the
things and folks in your life?
When God created this beautiful
earth for us
He gave it a rainbow of
lovely colors so bright.
There’s blue sky, brown
earth, and lush green grass,
Red and pink flowers and an
orange and yellow sunset.
Each color that God gave has
come to have a value.
Something that will help us become
more like Him.
It seems that it takes all of
the colors to make white,
And white means we are
becoming more like God.
Red is for courage that shows
us our individual worth.
So many have shed their blood
on battle grounds,
That we might have the freedom
of choice in our lives.
Christ’s blood was shed to
pay for our sins, large and small.
Yellow is for service, we
also call that good works.
We become the Savior’s hands
as we help those in need.
A smile, a hand to the
down-trodden, a shoulder to cry on.
Rolling up our sleeves to
help a job get done all will help.
Blue stands for justice and
also our divine nature.
As children of God we also
believe in His mercy.
We must be accountable for
our actions as His Children.
But He sent His Son so we
could learn to live like Him.
Green stands for knowledge,
learning and growing.
Knowledge is more than a
diploma or a degree.
We should learn something
every day we are in this life.
We should also feed body and spirit as we need both
Purple is known as the color
of nobility and integrity.
We are all of royal birth-God
is our Father.
He wants each of us to make
the choices that help us
So that we can return and
live with Him forever.
Orange is a vibrant color that stands for accountability.
Freedom of choice, be it good
or bad, is why we came to earth.
Orange also represents fire which can also depict holiness
and the Lord.
We need the fire of the
Gospel to burn brightly within us as we choose.
Gold is the color of value
and virtue regarding our soul.
As a child of God we are each
worth far more than gold.
We need to value our body and
our life in all that we do.
To be virtuous is to choose
ideals that will purify our life.
Black is the absence of color
and can be deceiving in appearance.
It is often synonymous with
Satan’s opposite plan and path.
There is never lasting
happiness when he guides our choices.
Heavenly Father stands ready
to help us fight our temptations and trials.
The blind may not have a
choice about the color they don’t see,
But we must each choose to
have color in our daily lives.
We need to incorporate their
values into each hour of each day.
We then will become pure and
worthy to return to our Father.
Dedicated to Jeff Stuart
Charlotte P. Edwards- May, 2011
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| A beautiful deep lavender lilac bush |
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| a bright yellow azalia that brightens a cloudy, rainy day |
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| This red Rhododendron grows on the temple grounds, that's our apartment building you see in the background |
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| This white Rhododendron was my prettiest find from earlier this week. | | |
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