Malvern Hills

A couple of summers back I preached at the wedding of a young couple, A & K, who worshipped at Salem Chapel. University took them away but I keep in touch and they return from time to time to receive warmest welcome. We do not charge for weddings but I was pleased to receive a gift of a climbing rose for having preached and led the service. The mother plant had been in the groom’s family for some time, and I duly dug into a tub in my back yard, hoping its more compacted roots would not prevent growth or flowers. This year, I got both.

Called Malvern Hills, it produces sprays of pale pink single flowers giving pleasant scent (though online sources give Malvern Hills a yellow hue). I must have 8 dozen sprays of flowers which do not seem to have been troubled by being in a pot, and nor does the wetter, duller climate of England’s north ill-affect it. Here is a rose which just gets on with the business of growing and blooming instead of sulking about its place and location.

Are you unhappy with where you are and the circumstances to which God’s good providence has led you? Get over it. Our wise God knows what He is doing and your approval for His choices is neither solicited nor required. It is your business to grow in faith and produce fruit; leave the locations and soil types to Him.

Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10