The celosia, which loves the sun, brightens my patio and home.

I frequently look for quotes to accompany my photographs. Tonight, while searching for quotes about flowers, I was stopped by the power in St. Therese of Lisieux’s words, which caused me to consider my own words and actions.

How often do we deny our God-given talents and gifts under the guise of humility? Why do we diminish or belittle ourselves? Is it because we hope that someone else will compliment us, build us up, and tell us that we are worthwhile?

When we do this, are we saying that God has not blessed us with skills and talents? Or worse, are we saying that we do not accept His gifts and that we do not wish to develop our talents? Or could it be that we simply feel that we are not good enough?

I think that I could learn a lesson from a little flower…and from all of God’s nature. Read St. Therese’s words. What do you think?

“If a little flower could speak, it seems to me that it would tell us quite simply all that God has done for it, without hiding any of its gifts. It would not, under the pretext of humility, say that it was not pretty, or that it had not a sweet scent, that the sun had withered its petals,or the storm bruised its stem, if it knew that such were not the case.”

― St. Thérèse de Lisieux, Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux