Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Cheryl Boardman
Monday, April 29, 2024
Psalm 103:15-16 talks about how we don’t live very long on this earth. We are compared to wildflowers which can be very fleeting. I’ve been to places one week where there was quite a variety of different kinds of wildflowers in bloom and then gone back a week or two later and the wildflowers that were blooming previously are totally gone, without a trace that they were ever there – except for my photos!
We tend to think of paintbrush as being very red or orange (or magenta around Paradise on Mt Rainier) but I found these pale yellow wildflowers blooming in Central Washington northwest of Omak. I’m not sure of the common name for this particular variety but they were very beautiful. They look similar to pallid paintbrush flowers pictured in my Lewis J. Clark Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest book but Clark writes that there can be as many as 40 different species of paintbrush in the Pacific Northwest (or maybe more).
I like these verses in Psalm 103 which talk about God’s love for us:
GOD is sheer mercy and grace;
not easily angered, he’s rich in love.
He doesn’t endlessly nag and scold,
nor hold grudges forever.
He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve,
nor pay us back in full for our wrongs.
As high as heaven is over the earth,
so strong is his love to those who fear him.
And as far as sunrise is from sunset,
he has separated us from our sins.
As parents feel for their children,
GOD feels for those who fear him.
He knows us inside and out,
keeps in mind that we’re made of mud.
Men and women don’t live very long;
like wildflowers they spring up and blossom,
But a storm snuffs them out just as quickly,
leaving nothing to show they were here.
GOD’s love, though, is ever and always,
eternally present to all who fear him,
Psalm 103:8-17 (The Message)