The Curiosity of Children

“Why did God make flowers?” Six-year-old Lucia asks while playing with her hair and simultaneously rocking back and forth on her heels. She is expecting the answer to be simple, like when she asks for me to read a Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle story or which of the saints is my favorite, but my jaw narrowly misses hitting the floor as I realize the enormity of the question at hand. “You know Miss Lucia, I’m not sure, but I’ll pray about that and let you know when I have an answer.”

Months after this quick dialogue I found myself awake earlier than intended on a day when our SPIRITUS schedule allowed for a little bit of prudent free time, which is to say that I’d planned to sleep in, but this question hit me again like a ton of bricks. “Lord, why DID you create flowers?” At first all I could think is that flowers hold little nutritional value. After all, the difference between a flower and a weed is really just perspective, neither serve much of a purpose but one is considered pretty and the other invasive.

All at once my mind was abuzz with fully formed thoughts rather than groggy ponderings. God doesn’t make junk! In fact, everything that He creates speaks to the true, the good, and the beautiful, and St. Paul reminds us in Corinthians that these are things to which we ought to cling. A flower can’t lie, and something in its nature and beauty reminds us that its life has both value and purpose.

Somewhere along this rabbit trail I realized that we as human persons have a lot in common with flowers. The Lord didn’t have to create us, we aren’t necessary for the rest of Creation to operate; God made us for Himself! Depending on the perspective of any other person, we may be considered roses, dandelions, or even weeds but the life of every human person has dignity, value, and purpose. Some flowers are destined for bouquets, others for gardenscapes, some for the inspiration of poets, and still others are meant to bloom where they are planted. What kind of flower were you created to be?

-Annastasia Eftink