16 PLANNING AND PLANTING 



haps the best known reference made to flowers in 

 the entire Bible. He said: 'Consider the Lilies 

 of the field, how they grow ; they toil not, neither 

 do they spin; yet I say unto you that Solomon 

 in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.' 



The utter futility of wasting our years for the 

 superficialities of life could not be more forcefully 

 stated than in this picturesque language. 



But the greatest service of flowers is in the 

 carrying of messages that our lips cannot form. 

 The spoken word is merely a means of expressing 

 thoughts and emotions; a means easily capable of 

 misinterpretation and misunderstanding. The 

 artist, with his brush, conveys beyond the power of 

 the poor tongue to voice. So with the musician 

 and his instrument. But to us who are neither 

 musicians nor artists, God has given His fragrant 

 messengers which speak with a myriad of tongues, 

 soul to soul, in a fashion unknown to our lips. 



Last week in riding through the lowlands of 

 Mississippi I happened to glance out of the window 

 and caught a momentary glimpse of a little ragged 

 negro lad entering a ramshackle hovel, which in 

 my imagination I pictured as his home. In his 

 hand's he carried a spray of fresh, full bloomed 

 Spring flowers. And the thought flashed through 

 my mind; with what magnificent eloquence will 

 those Spring flowers speak of the finer things, in 

 that hut? What a message of refinement, of joy, 



