Who needs a letter from you today?
Letters can be (almost) as lovely as flowers in how they can brighten and cheer someone’s day. Please consider taking the time to write a note to someone today – writing a note can be as simple as sharing this post along with a few words like “I love you” or “I’m thinking of and praying for you today”. A little love given in a little letter can go a long way!
This is another excerpt from “Letters to Sarah: Thriving in Chronic Illness” coming in 2024 from Northeastern Baptist Press.
Psalm 118:24 CEV This day belongs to the Lord! Let’s celebrate and be glad today.
Dearest Sarah,
Have you ever heard the phrase, “suck it up, buttercup”? I have, both in receiving it from others and saying it (under my breath) to someone else. At first glance, this phrase isn’t encouraging or exhorting, much less edifying, even if given with a smile and wink.
But at second glance through the eyes of a plant scientist, this phrase can be quite helpful if used appropriately. Thank you for your patience in hanging with me as I unpack that idea (just like you are with many of the letters and conversations with this old soil scientist (grin!).)
Buttercups are some of my favorite plants. Little bright yellow cup-shaped flowers that seemingly appear overnight spread out across one grassy field after another. Dainty petals turned up towards the sun to drink in its energy and warmth for today’s growth and the seeds to come for the next generations of loveliness.
If you stop to think about it (like a plant scientist would, of course), those buttercups are sucking up sunlight from morning to night. Their bright green glossy leaves are absorbing light via photosynthesis and converting it to sugars for the plant to use in growth. Not only does one little buttercup suck light up for herself, she’s sucking it up for future flowers, both in seed and in soil via roots for nutrient and water cycling. And in doing so, buttercups can model a good life for us here in chronic illness(es)…
Our sun of righteousness, Jesus Christ, is always with us giving the light of life rich with hope, joy, and faith (see Malachi 4:2). He is not limited by painful mornings or dark nights; He shines bright even when we can’t see Him from tears or troubles. His light isn’t limited by failed treatments or fears; His Presence isn’t stopped by diagnosis or dilemmas. He sees you and knows you each and every moment, no matter where you are. He is with you and for you, even if you are struggling with those dilemmas brought about by others’ misconstrued perceptions of disease or misinformed phrases of denial like “you just need to be strong” or “have more faith” or “pray harder and look up” (or in other words, “suck it up, buttercup”).
So, you can either receive their rejection as failure or you can receive it as good fertilizer for faith. And a good fertilizer can surely help a soil to be a better environment for good growth, including that of buttercups, like you and like me (grin!). We can take the phrase to heart and seek the Lord while He may be found (see Jeremiah 33:3). For when we seek Him, we find glorious light to grow patience and peace and hope and a heartening for us and for others who are watching us soak up our Jesus and His joy in our lives, like the best of buttercups. And that joy we’re soaking up will then spread seemingly overnight from one field to another across the entire world just as Jesus commanded the disciples to do in Matthew chapter 28. For joy can’t be duplicated or denied; it must be given out as it grows within as nourished by our Jesus alive in us for today and for forever.
I continue to pray for you, dearest Sarah – may you soak up all the joy of today, little buttercup, for our Lord has made it for us to know and to delight in Him in it!
Your friend,
Beth
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written by and copyrighted to Beth Madison, Ph.D., 2023.
Soul Scientist 
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