“See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth” (Song 2:11,12).
We are not told why God causes the flowers to appear on the earth. Nothing is said of His purpose in calling this hidden world of beauty into the light. The silence is explained by the fact that the end is obvious to every observer. The soil needs the work of their roots, and the chemicals of their tiny structures. The atmosphere needs the fragrance and the gases they exude. The world of mixed life which hums all day in their petals needs the food they provide. Man needs the sight of them to train his eye and develop his love of the beautiful. And childhood needs them, and many a sick home.
God’s purpose in their creation is not only adornment, but ministry, the serving and the satisfying of the needs of other created things. That is why God seeks to call the beauties out of man, because they are needed.
Man must see a splendid faith to make it possible for him to believe. Man must see self-sacrifice, for he will die of his wounds if there is no self-forgetful soul to help him. Man must see love, for his lot is hard, and he will perish of heartbreak and loneliness without its gentle ministry. Man must see purity, so that, amid the sensuality and immoralities of the age, he may know it is possible to master the flesh. Man must see hope, for his sky is often starless, and he needs the beacon of another’s hope to guide him through the storm. The world needs these flowers of the soul; needs their fragrance, their colors, their help, their hints, their inspiration.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One