Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Once Every 3000 Years

I found a brief article hidden away in a back corner of the local newspaper. After some further research, I thought it was interesting enough to merited a post here.

The article was about the discovery of a rare flower found by a Chinese woman in Lushan Mountain, Jiangxi province, China. It is called the udumbara flower or youtan poluo. According to Buddhist legend it blooms once every 3000 years and supposedly marks the coming of a future king.

Rare and unknown things will almost always have legends and myths surrounding them. This flower is no exception. It is extremely tiny and they grow in white clusters which look very much like the eggs of lacewings.

I don’t know if it is true that this flower blooms so rarely or even if it exists. As Simone Preuss notes in her article I found here, “It is interesting to note, however, that the first sighting of an udumbara flower was in July 1997 at a Buddha statue in a temple in Korea, exactly 3,024 lunar years after Buddhism first emerged.” It is also interesting to note that, according to David Emery “they don't match any known species of plant life…”

Do we find things only when we look for them? Is it about being aware of the possibilities and opening our eyes? Or is it a matter of wanting so desperately for something to be true that we close our eyes to other facts? Or do we even disbelieve because we don’t want it to be true?

For me my faith in God is so much more than simply wanting something to be true. Admittedly I did only look for Him when I became aware of the possibility of Him. I looked for Him because I needed Him. But our Lord asks from us more than blind faith. He asks us to learn of Him. He asks us to think about Him. He asks us to be prepared and aware, and He gave us the scriptures and the Holy Spirit to guide us. He reassures us that He is the way and the truth and the life. (John 14:6)

5 comments:

Jody Hedlund said...

Great thoughts, Lynda! Especially as I think about teaching my children, I don't want them to have blind faith, but truly think through issues and be able to logically defend their faith.

Anonymous said...

What an interesting flower! You have me intrigued! I also love your thoughts on God and faith!

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Jody, yes, it's so important to teach our children these things.

Alisa, I've always loved anything strange and unusual. God has made such an interesting world full of vastly diverse things. We can't understand all of it, but it's great catching glimpses of this diversity.

Anonymous said...

I read your comments on a couple of blogs I follow and added myself to follow your blog. You are welcome to visit mine. http://ronjoewhite.blogspot.com

God bless you, Ron

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Welcome, Ron (Old Geezer). I checked out your site and read your testimony. Wonderful!