The Adventure of the Flowers Immortal
Weekly Reading: Sir Knight of the Splendid Way Chapter Nine
“It was a full noble deed,” said Sir Constant, “yet none saw it who would reward her. It was as water cast out upon the desert sands, and she who loves her neighbours is left unblest while the hard hearts ride by in pomp and power. So as I came, I grieved that so much of love should go unregarded.”
Burdened by a shadow of that which he understands not, Sir Constant wonders,
“Why do the good and loving go unrewarded, while the wicked prosper?”
Then he witnesses a scene that shows him the beauty of a life lived under the influence of the King’s love.
An old woman hobbles on her staff with disbelief in her aged eyes. A garden, whose loveliness cannot be compared with anything on the earth, spans before her. In all directions, pure white flowers reflect the glory of the Gardener, filling the air with a fragrance like nothing she’s ever smelled. She should not be here—no, no—an old, useless cripple like herself surely does not belong in a place of such beauty.
From the path beyond emerges a man dressed in white, his countenance as pure and simple as light. It is the Gardener.
She stops, afraid that if He sees her, she may have to leave this beautiful place. But he meets her with a smile, and her fears pass away. Then, in tones of great tenderness he tells her a story. It is a story of hardship, sacrifice, weakness, and above all, love. Could it be that this was her story? Who was she, that the King was mindful of her?
With tears in her eyes, the Gardener leads her to patch of ground filled with the most beautiful and precious flowers in the King’s garden—and they are all hers! Too overwhelmed to pick them herself, the Gardener picks three flowers from the ground and adorns his humble servant with their beauty, changing her failing body into immortal youth, her filthy rags into the purest white, and enduing her dimming eyes with the light of heaven, which for so many years was masked behind her weak humanity.
Though weak and poor in the flesh, she was great in love; and that love, which never goes unnoticed, would not go unrewarded.
“The King knew His servant, and each precious deed of hers was a seed for a certain garden which He loved well… they immediately sprang up, Flowers Immortal, fairest of all the King’s flowers… So as the years sped on, she planted in the King’s garden a wealth of star-lilies, filling with joy the heart of the Gardener.”
Sir Constant beheld this scene with great wonder and a renewed joy. Surely, “the memory of the righteous is a blessing” (Proverbs 10:7a).
Dear knight, though all your good works may seem like “water cast out upon the desert sands,” Jesus tells us that if we abide in Him, and He in us, our fruit will remain (see John 15). Though sometimes you may feel like your righteousness is all for naught, our Father, who sees in secret, will Himself reward you openly (see Matthew 6:4). And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up (see Galatians 6:9).
Covered in the King’s love, our good deeds become fragrant flowers in His garden that will never die. So do not lose heart in working for your master, though it seems like so little you can do—nothing is too small to escape His notice.
One day, may the King himself grant us to see the fruit of our labors, and may our lives bring joy to our King with the fragrance of a life consecrated to Him.
“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession,
and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere” (2 Cor. 2:14).
Memory Verse: Galatians 6:9
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
Sir Knight of the Splendid Way
Deep into the Vale of Promise ventures Sir Constant, a young knight who desires nothing more than to be in the service of the Great King. Though unworthy of this high calling, he sets forth on the Splendid Way—the perilous road that all who desire to serve the King must take. His faith and valor will be tested, his strength and endurance will be challenged, and his allegiance to the one true King will be proven. A rich allegory wrought with biblical truth.
