Love spreads a carpet of flowers They lie beneath ones feet Often found in the wild places The places many don't see They offer themselves completely Singing beautiful songs They're happy to love without return And flourish where they belong Created one, listen closely Listen and take to heart The fairest beauties of human soul are Victories that ne'er depart Many a quiet, hidden life Life unknown by the world Are a great delight for the king, like Wildflowers hid from the world
my inspiration
“Humble yourself, and you will find that Love is spreading a carpet of flowers beneath your feet.” Much-Afraid looked at him earnestly, “I have often wondered about the wild flowers,” she said. “It doe seem strange that such unnumbered multitudes should bloom in the wild places of the earth where perhaps nobody ever sees them and the goats and the cattle can walk over them and crush them to death. They have so much beauty and sweetness to give and no one on whom to lavish it, nor who will even appreciate it.”
The look the Shepherd turned on her was very beautiful. “Nothing my Father and I have made is ever wasted,” he said quietly, “and the little wild flowers have a wonderful lesson to teach. They offer themselves so sweetly and confidently and willingly, even if it seems that there is no one to appreciate them. Just as though they sang a joyous little song to themselves, that it is so happy to love, even though one is not loved in return.
“I must tell you a great truth, Much-Afraid, which only the few understand. All the fairest beauties in the human soul, its greatest victories, and its most splendid achievements are always those which no one else knows anything about, or can only dimly guess at. Every inner response of the human heart to Love an every conquest over self-love is a new flower on the tree of Love.
“Many a quiet, ordinary, and hidden life, unknown to the world, is a veritable garden in which Love’s flowers and fruits have come to such perfection that it is a place of delight where the King of Love himself walks and rejoices with his friends. Some of my servants have indeed won great visible victories and are rightly loved and reverenced by other men, but always heir greatest victories are like the wild flowers, those which no one knows about. Learn this lesson now, down here in the valley, Much-Afraid, and when you get to the steep places of the mountains it will comfort you.”
Hannah Hurnard, Hinds’ Feet on High Places, Chapter Four.
