My daughter has always liked cacti. When she went off to college, I went to the local home improvement store to buy a mini cactus for her dorm room desk. There were lots of cacti in tiny terracotta pots, each having a single pink flower. Long after I had given her the prickly but beautiful little gift, she told me that the flower was fake and it had been glued onto the cactus. We laughed about it, but I couldn’t help but feel a little deceived and let down. Did the grower feel the need to add a faux flower to make the cactus beautiful enough for someone to buy?
I think we’ve all done that to ourselves to some extent. We try to hide the prickliness of our lives by distracting people with something attractive. We essentially glue on a fake flower to outwardly present the “best version” of ourselves to others. Sometimes we feel we must present a better version of ourselves to God so He will love us. But God isn’t fooled by our glued-on flower. Your Heavenly Father knows you intimately – your best and worst parts – and loves you anyway. Romans 5:8 (NIV) tells us, “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” Thankfully, Christ’s unconditional love for us isn’t based on perfection, but on His endless grace. No fake flower is needed; we are all His creation and beautiful in His eyes.
Julia K. Hallum 