I come from the school of hard knocks. Mostly, because my head was always very hard. I would undoubtedly knock it against all the walls of reason with my stubbornness. At age 73, I'm not quite as bad. I guess all those knocks softened it up a bit.

I married right out of high school and had my son when I was 22.  His father and I divorced when Jon was 2 years old.  I became a free woman for the first time in my life.  I took it to the hilt.

So many, many mistakes were made.  Where was my brain?  What was my focus?  I thought of my son and I thought of myself.  My focus went no  further than that.

One night, while I was still in my 20's, I had a stunning dream.  Jesus came to me and handed me a rose. A single rose! He was smiling and he said; "You are a petal". I woke up, sitting up on the bed and I very clearly recalled the dream. I wondered why He didn't say I was a flower or a rose.  But He said I was a petal.  I had to think a bit, why wasn't I the whole flower?

I hadn't read Rick Warren's, Purpose Driven Life, yet. That started right out with; "It's not about you", on the first page. But Jesus was so gentle and kind, telling me I was a petal. I accepted that being a petal was a good thing.  Basically, I knew what he meant. Yet, my stubbornness was so stubborn, I took years before allowing it to go all the way through into full cognizance of my behavior.

Jesus is referred to in the Bible as The Rose of Sharon.  I, myself, now interpret this as Jesus being our Bridegroom. He has always been the lover of our souls. But we (the church) only become His bride when we are willing to change over into His image. It is then He becomes our lover.

I do believe Jesus came to me, Himself, in that dream.  He invited me to become a petal. Even with all my new-found freedom and friendship in so much of the world's filth, He was inviting me into His church, with His people, into His Love.  "Yes Lord, please let me be a petal of the rose."

Charlotte Ann