The Difference Between Roses and Lilies

I love that Lily and I both have flower names. It is almost as if she was named after me, just with a different flower. In honor of Lily, I would love to include flowers in the names of my future daughters.

Anyways, I have been thinking about the difference between roses and lilies and how perfect that Lily and I have the names we do.

rose and lily from Lily's memorial/burial service with the LIFE bracelet she was buried with

You see, my name is Hannah Rose and roses are lovely flowers, yet they have prickly, ugly thorns. I certainly have a fair share of thorns. I am far from perfect.

As Abraham Lincoln said, "We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or we can rejoice because thorn bushes have roses." I choose to rejoice that in spite of my thorns, and even with my thorns, the Lord has turned my story into something beautiful... the rose. My life is a story of both thorns and roses.

On the other hand, lilies are gentle, delicate, beautiful flowers, just like my Lily. They are perfect, yet they fade so quickly. They have no thorns like the rose.

"We can't know why the lily has so brief a time to bloom in the warmth of sunlight's kiss upon its face before its fragrance and bids the world goodnight to rest its beauty in a gentler place. But we can know that nothing that is loved is ever lost and no one who has touched a heart can really pass away because some beauty lingers on in each memory of which they've been a part." -Ellen Brenneman

The Lord gives me fresh insights like this all the time. I am thankful that even though Lily is not here, God gives me beautiful glimpses of His purpose for her life and legacy.

I like to think that my delicate Lily helped make this prickly, thorny rose a little more beautiful. :-)

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