The Passion Flower

The Passion Flower 

The Anglicized name, "passion" flower refers to the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The name and the flower itself are filled with symbolism. The five petals and the five sepals are said to represent the 10 faithful apostles (omitting Peter and Judas). The tips of the leaves suggest the point of the centurion's spear. The central flower column denotes the pillar of the scourging. The flower's tendrils resemble the whips used in the flagellation. The corona filaments are compared to Christ's crown of thorns. The three stigma are called the nails, and the five anthers reflect the five sacred wounds, while the red stains recall the blood of Christ.

Read more: The History of the Passion Flower | Garden Guides http://www.gardenguides.com/82015-history-passion-flower.html#ixzz2Ju6MPQYW

You Are Cordially Invited to Open Up!

In July 2012 I had the privilege of traveling to Pennsylvania to serve on a retreat team through a ministry called Equipping Lydia (EL).  The wonderful thing about serving on one of EL's retreat teams is that you have the opportunity to minister alongside women who are listening for the invitations from God.  On this particular retreat one of the women, who is an artist,  drew a picture of a passion flower and believed that it represented an experience that I had while serving on the retreat team.   God had not fully revealed to me the meaning of that drawing until I started this blog.   

The passion flower she drew was God's invitation for me to be open to His will for my life.  I believe this invitation to openness is what has been the driving force behind my desire to learn about Spiritual Formation.   It has also been an invitation for me to learn and practice other spiritual disciplines such as  solitude and silence.   Spiritual Formation isn't something I learned about in Sunday school or in the church where I had been a member.  So I had to be willing to forsake focusing on what other people might think and just say yes to what God was inviting me to do.    

    

The passion flower is an amazing picture of transformation.   It starts out closed and begins to open in the morning and stays open all day and into the night.  I looked at a Youtube Video of a passion flower opening up and it took almost eight hours for it to open.  Isn't that like us?  As we  become more aware of His presence throughout the day we become more open to His invitations? 

What a beautiful picture of how we are to be formed into the image of God?  In the morning we should spread our hearts open wide in prayer, the reading of His Word and/or other spiritual disciplines.  That's our RSVP to His invitation to transform us.  Then the Son of God will shine his light on us, in us and around us for the world to see the beauty of who He is through our attitudes and actions.  

You are cordially invited....

To be open to practice the discipline of solitude and silence.

You Are Cordially Invited...

 

One aspect of Spiritual Formation is being aware of God's invitations throughout the day to exhibit attitudes and actions that are beyond our natural inclinations.  When I wake up each morning He is saying, "Joycelyn you are cordially invited to spend some time with me.  Can you read My Word and spend some time in prayer with me?"  When I am interacting with my husband, my daughter and my son, He is saying, "You are cordially invited to be patient, compassionate and loving."  In traffic He is saying, "You are cordially invited to restrain yourself from road rage when a driver cuts you off."  When I am discouraged, or fearful He is saying, "You are cordially invited to memorize a passage out of my Word that will give you strength during this difficult time. "  Unfortunately, I don't always recognize His invitations immediately.  But even in my lack of awareness of the invitation, it then becomes an invitation to be more aware of His invitations.  In essence an invitation from God is about having an awareness of His presence and being in tuned to how He wants to reflect Himself through us as we go about our day.  How is God inviting you to conform to His image today?