The Easter Lily goes back to the Garden of Gethsemane where they sprung up
after Christ was arrested there. They have come to represent purity, love, and
faith-based upon the sweat of Jesus hitting the ground there. These white robed
apostles of hope grew after His arrest, a reminder this Easter to us of His
death and resurrection to all believers around the world. But 45 years ago I
didn’t know that, but had a new girlfriend, Carole, and needed money, so the
Easter lily came into my life. But I am ahead of myself, so back to the
beginning.
We were both sophomores at Scotch Plains Fanwood High School, having come
from the two different junior high schools in town. We were both part of the
clique, I was a jock, she was a cheerleader, so our paths crossed naturally.
But she had a boyfriend, Gary, a senior, who I knew from summers at Brookside
Park. They had been a couple the whole year, but this spring they had broken
up, and I got the word she liked me, so I put out the word liked her. And the
romance began. For one week it meant late to class, as I carried her books, and
ate lunch with her. We talked on the phone every night, but I always felt
inferior to Gary-he had a job, a car, and they could go out on real dates. For
us it was, well not real. So needing money, I went to work at Parker’s
Wholesale Florist, a huge farm next to Terrill Jr. High, where we had seen the
flowers growing for years. It was always a place for kids to get work, no
social security number needed, and since it was Easter time, and they grew
lilies, I got in easy. And started on the Saturday before Easter. Millions of
lilies, reminding me of the popular Who song “Pictures of Lily,” and my job was
to stand in a greenhouse, sweating over lilies, wrapping them in colored foil
and placing them in a box for shipment, careful not to damage them. All for
$1.60/hour, and for 8 hours I would make over $12.00, enough to keep me well for
a week or two in gifts for my new friend. But around noon, I was exhausted, my
legs and hands hurt, and I wanted to see Carole. So at lunch, which was really
lunch time, eaten where you stood, when the whistle blew, you ate what you
brought, which for me was nothing. So I had to look for a way out, finally
realizing I could just walk out, which I did, and was down the road when the
lunch over whistle blew. My testosterone in full bloom like the lilies, I was
hitching to Carole’s hose and would surprise her, what an act of love, and she
would be so surprised she would fall into my arms, and....But it was raining,
and she lived as far from Parker’s as you could and still be in Scotch Plains,
so I hitched. Got a ride pretty quick, and only had to walk half a mile in the
rain to her house. Somewhere between the adrenaline and the testosterone, I was
sweating, and didn’t even mind the rain, all I could see was Carole. But when I
came up the street to her house, my heart sunk. There was Gary’s car parked out
front, what was he doing there? Maybe going to get some old things he left
there from his time with her, but my mind somehow knew it was over, and I turned
around and walked in the downpour to the gas station. I was going to call her,
confront her on the phone, except some friends of Gary’s worked there, this
would not be cool. So I hitched and walked home in the rain, catching cold,
nothing compared to my broken heart, and making up some story neither of my
parents believed. And after a meal, I hadn’t eaten all day, and a hot shower, I
retreated to my room, and called Carole. I was hurt, mad, and she was going to
feel the pain I did, again boy was I wrong.
When she picked up the phone, I said “hi, how are you,” a brilliant
conversationalist at an early age, and she said we have to talk. Now even then
as it does today, that is not good news, and it means I talk, and you listen. So
of course I gave the time tested answer, “sure,” and I did. She explained how
they had made up, and they were right for each other, and hit me with the time
honored offer of “can we still be friends?” Again a mumbled “sure” was the
answer, and my broken heart healed, and when I was a senior with a license I too
found true love with a sophomore. Again a car and job, not to mention I had
gotten to be a pretty sweet talker by then, put me in the position Gary had
enjoyed two years before. But I never went back to wrapping lilies, and today
when I see them, I can remember my 4 hours of torture wrapping them. Which was
nothing compared to the time Jesus spent in the garden, or His 6 hours on the
cross. Nor can the love He expressed that day in any way compare with my
adolescent urges. His is true love, and now I see lilies in a different way.
Giving my story of An Easter Carole a different place of importance. There
would be other girlfriends, and finally my wife of 36 years, and 36 Easters, but
today it is Jesus that I look to on the day. His empty tomb reminding me of how
empty my heart felt when I saw Gary’s car, if only I knew then what I do now.
You cannot make someone love you, it truly is an affair of the heart. We love
Him because He loved us first. And although lilies are pretty, they cannot come
close to knowing Jesus personally.
And so today join me in celebrating Jesus, and His life, death,
and of course His resurrection. Look at the lily as a source of hope, and joy,
planted years ago by God in a garden, and watered by the very tears of His son.
Tears He wept for you and for me, for He knew what was ahead for us, but also
for Him, and He went voluntarily. Look at Easter Sunday this year by looking to
Jesus, and rather than having an Easter Carole, have a great day remembering Him
by showing love to someone else. Carols are fro Christmas anyway, another good
time to remember Jesus. Show your wife some special love today, a good practice
for every day, and maybe send her a flower, but keep in mind there is no
replacement for being there, so God sent Jesus. What will you send today?
And if you have fallen from grace, Jesus still extends His open
arms to you, “yes you can still be friends,” He never stopped loving you. And
if He tells you “we need to talk,” listen, as He has plans for you, for good
things, not a break up, but for reconciliation. At His expense. Sure beats a
walk home in the rain. Ask for His forgiveness today, and accept Him into your
life. Lilies, gardens, the cross, and an empty tomb...all signs that God so
loved the world. And the evening His tears hit the ground for you, and how much
He loves you. Plant a lily of love today-foil wrapping optional. I made $6.40
the day my heart broke, but I got it all back the day Jesus’ heart broke for me,
and I let Him into mine. Lilies, anyone?
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com