"A Rose and a Prayer"
2009-04-18
"Rose"
The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder.
I turned round to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.
She said, "Hi handsome. My name is Rose.
I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?"
I laughed and enthusiastically responded, "Of course you may!" and she gave me a giant squeeze.
"Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?" I asked.
She jokingly replied, "I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids..."
"No seriously," I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.
"I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!" she told me.
After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake.
We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop I was always mesmerized listening to this "time machine" as she shared her wisdom and expe rience with me.
Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went.
She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.
At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet.
I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor.
Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, "I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know."
As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, "We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.
There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die.
We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it!
There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up.
If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight.
Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change. Have no regrets.
The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets."
She concluded her speech by courageously singing "The Rose."
She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives.
At the year's end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.
One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.
Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that
it's never too late to be all you can possibly be
When you finish reading this, please send this peaceful word of advice to your friends and family, they'll really enjoy it!
These words have been passed along in loving memory of ROSE.
REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL.
We make a Living by what we get, We make a Life by what we give.
God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage. If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.
Author unknown
"A Rose and a Prayer"
It has been said; that a diamond is forever .....but the rose is a forever thing, also. The rose has beauty one time but lasts a lifetime and it cannot be duplicated it is always one of a kind. I don't know if the family knows it or not but there is also the anointing of the roses.
I first met the Rose Lady a year ago, she is quiet,refined,loving, very kind, and beautiful from the inside to the outside, she is very special. She also has a great since of humor. She never asked for special treatment and never had a unkind word for anybody. I started praying for this beautiful person a year ago. Her prayer request was for healing; in fact she was healed. She was one of the most beautiful women you could met. She regained her strength and went home. I continued to pray for her and almost a year went by before I saw her again she walked into the hospital and was a picture of radiant beauty, her husband was ill this time and she supported him through his illness and helped her children. She loves her daughter and son very much and the rest of the family even though they became part of her family through marriage. Everyone loved the Rose Lady even friends she knew no strangers. She asked me to continue to pray for her and I did. I asked her what she wanted me to pray for and she said healing. We discussed this for a while and after sometime, she told me; "there is healing above this earth also she said, it is in Heaven isn't it?" I stated; "everyone is healed in Heaven."
Her son in law came to the nurses station and wanted to know if he could put a piece of plywood on the other hospital bed to cover the bed, the nurse wanted to know what for and he stated; " I have called all of my mother in laws friends and family and we are going to shower her with roses. He said; " a rose and a prayer from every person." The idea was his sisters. He even kept it a secret from his wife for a while. His sister also helped make the telephone calls. I kept thinking how beautiful. All of the staff could hardly wait until the next day.
The next day early in the morning the roses and prayers started arriving by the afternoon the room was full of roses; of every shape, kind, color, and size. Most of them were live and some silk. By mid afternoon she had over a hundred roses, by that evening over two hundred. The hospital bed was covered from the top to the end of the bed and also the window sills and the floor. The smell was so beautiful you could smell it all up and down the hall way. Visitors and other patients stopped at her doorway and looked in and were amazed at all the flowers and the prayers. The Rose Lady was very thrilled; she laughed, cried, and joked, and smiled she was in fact beaming she out shined the beauty of the roses. I stated you must know a lot of people and she said; " I have never known a stranger and I always treat people with kindness, the way I want to be treated." She stated that she enjoyed every person she met.
Her daughter took some of the roses and had them freeze dried and sealed in picture frames for the family and the Rose Lady, they looked beautiful in the frames and what a beautiful tribute to the family. The roses started to wilt and since my daughter was getting married they gave some of the roses to me for the petals. At the wedding I felt as if the Rose Lady was there that she was thrilled being able to bless a wedding with such beautiful rose petals.
The Rose Lady regained some of her strength and got to go home, whe wanted dearly to go home and she did. Her daughter sat with her all this time and son and son in law, what a loving family. I shall always treasure this memory as many people will. The anointing of the rose " A Rose and a Prayer."
The first part of June the Rose Lady went to heaven, I can see her as an angel taking care of all the flowers in Heaven. Though she will be missed by everyone at the hospital and by all her many friends and family I know that she is healed and very much loved in Heaven and that we will meet again for she is not in my past but in my future. Every time I see a rose or smell one I will always have the loving memory of the beautiful Rose Lady. The day she went to heaven my miniature rose bushes started blooming like mad, and all I could think of was her and her beautiful loving family. It is as if she was saying, the rose is a forever thing, it has beauty one time but lasts a lifetime and it cannot be duplicated it is always one of a kind. I agree yes it is a lifetime memory. I shall miss you very much.
During the funeral, the daughter told me the most beautiful rainbow appeared, she said it was as though Mom was saying:"I made it, I am Home."
After all.........Christ Jesus; is The Rose of Sharon......
This testimony was written with the permission of the family and their blessings.
Spirit Walker
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Rose by: Sparkle Graphics
When the night has been too lonely
The Rose Song Lyrics Information
Like A Rose
You are the
Blossom of a life
It is your touch
That will engrave
Upon a heart
The sonnet that has
Not been thought of.
Like A Rose
Your sweet fragrance &
Extraordinary glamour
Leave the beauticians &
The perfumeries
Marveling at such an
Opposition.
Like A Rose
The colors of your soul
The grace of your presence &
The melody of your voice
Bestow upon them
The utmost desire to
Embrace you forever
Written from scripture in the Bible
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For My Lord; "The Rose of Sharon" and "The Rose Lady"
Thank You, Lord for all You have allowed me to see.
Photography and Pop Art by Spirit Walker