QUEEN OF THE ANDES!

Queen of the Andes photo by Urrola – own work CC BY-SA 4.0.

The ‘Queen’ is a powerful inspiration to us all!  It is a 50-foot-tall and 12-foot-wide cactus that takes 80 to 100 years to bloom!  It is very rare and grows at 12,000 feet in the Andes Mountains of Peru and Bolivia.  (See photo above).  It only blooms once in a lifetime, producing 8000 to 20,000 blooms in a three-month period.  After it blooms, it produces 6 to 12 MILLION seeds…and then it dies!

Remember the words of Job, ‘speak to the earth, and it will teach you.’  Job 12:8.

The ‘Queen’ inspires us to not give up hope of blooming no matter how old we are!

The following are some examples of famous people who bloomed later in life:

Anna Mary Robertson Moses, better known as Grandma Moses, began her prolific painting career at 78 years of age!  In 2006, one of her paintings sold for $1.2 million dollars.

Harland Sanders, better known as Colonel Sanders, was 62 when he franchised Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1952.  He sold the franchise business for $2 million 12 years later.

Ray Kroc spent his career as a milkshake-device salesman before buying McDonald’s at age 52 in 1954.  He grew it into the world’s biggest fast-food franchise.

Laura Ingalls Wilder spent her later years writing semi-autobiographical stories using her educated daughter, Rose, as an editor.  She published the first in the ‘Little House’ books at age 65 in 1932.  They soon became children’s literary classics and the basis for the TV show ‘Little House on the Prairie.

No matter how old you are, God has a plan for your life.  Don’t you think perhaps that God knows who you are, who you’re meant to be.  What is best for you.  What fits you best.  After all, He created you.

He said, ‘I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you (help you bloom) and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’  Jeremiah 29:11.

The word ‘bloom’ has its root in the word prosperity!!!  As the New American Oxford Dictionary defines it: ‘to come into or be in full beauty’!!! 

But you have to do your part!  Read the following scriptures.

If we trust and submit to Him…
‘Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.’  Proverbs 3:5-6.

Meditate on the word of God….
‘Keep this book of the law (The word of God) always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.  Then you will be prosperous and successful.’  Joshua 1:8.

Be teachable.
The Lord says: ‘I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on YOU!’  Psalm 32:8.

Be humble.
‘Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up (Help you bloom) in due time.’  1 Peter 5:6.

AND remember, you are not alone!  Philippians 1:6.   
‘Be confident of this, that He (Jesus) who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.’

He wants you to bloom!
And you’ll be a real ‘beauty!’