Jasmine Gardenia

A lovely woman I know invited me to her apartment yesterday for a visit. She said that she had some flowers to share with me that were growing in “a little area where she could grow things,” and that she’d made a dessert. She had already shared a rose with me one day from her garden, so I knew that she had a place to grow roses and that the roses she grows are very special, and she had already shared a dessert with me that was one of the best things I have ever eaten in my life so I knew the dessert would be delicious too. She’s a very special woman, and so I knew that wherever she was gardening would be lovely, but I didn’t imagine the beauty and peace and tranquility of the Shangri-La I was blessed to enjoy yesterday afternoon.

1 Peter 3:3-4 tells us, “Do not let your adorning be external – the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear – but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” The woman I visited with yesterday is very beautiful, but her beauty comes in a way that is not flashy or showy. She dresses in classic, simple clothing, with a simple and beautiful necklace and no make-up and simple upswept hair. When I look at her I think of some of the classic beauties like Katharine Hepburn, only this woman is much softer and more gentle, with a truly gentle and quiet spirit that shows the Spirit of God that lives within her.

In the garden where we sat yesterday, everything is blooming and strong and lovely, reflecting the beauty and strength and loveliness of the woman whose garden it is. She has wisteria growing over a small enclosed area, and the vines are thick and healthy where they begin to come out of the ground. There are two sides to her garden area, a narrower balcony walkway and a larger terrace area where we sat, and the whole apartment was filled with the scent of the jasmine gardenia bushes that were blooming effusively on the balcony side. I get all turned around when I go into New York City apartments, so I don’t know which direction her balcony and terrace face, but she is the kind of person who because she is a kind person is able to help things grow wherever she is. She could be living in a basement with no windows and still have that kind of beauty around her, it’s something that is part of her, a light within her, that gives light and health to everyone and everything around her.

In Proverbs 31:10-31, there is a description of “The Wife of Noble Character,” according to the New International Version translation, or in the New King James it is “The Virtuous Wife.” There are the things that we would expect to be there about being a help to her husband and working diligently in the home, but then there is something added that even women who support their husbands and are diligent workers do not always have. In verse 20 we read, “She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy,” and in verse 25 we read, “She is clothed in strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.” The New Kings James version for verse 25 I think is even more beautiful, “Strength and honor are her clothing; she shall rejoice in time to come.”

As I read the description in verse 20, I think of the times I have seen the woman I was visiting with yesterday volunteering at a soup kitchen, serving soup from a large pot to the guests who come in. It is a lovely soup kitchen, and the presence of this woman makes it even lovelier. She is the first person that the guests see as they walk in, and when she is late or for some reason cannot be there, they always ask where she is. The soup is delicious, but it is her presence that is more nourishing. She is an angel whose sweet presence perfumes the air.

When I read verse 25, the reason that the New King James version is to me more beautiful and more fitting for this woman is that the New International Version seems to me a bit more bold than the modesty that this woman has. She is a woman who has great strength and dignity, but she does not seem to be aware of the strength and dignity she has. Laughing at days to come in some way seems to me to mean that the woman described in Proverbs 31 is confident and assured of her strength and dignity, and while I’m sure that the translators didn’t mean to have it sound prideful, there is a sense of pride that turn of phrase has for me at least. But in the New King James translation, it seems much softer, “Strength and honor are her clothing, she shall rejoice in time to come,” – to me when I read that I see this woman, reaching her hands out to the poor and needy, embracing them with her love, her gentle spirit scenting the air without her even knowing the strength and honor and love and beauty others see when they see her. I wonder if she knows the blessing she is to so many, and that she is precious in God’s sight.

My prayer for this lovely woman is that she would know fully in her heart and deep in her soul who she is in Christ. That she would have the understanding of the gift that she is to all whose lives she touches. My prayer is that she would rejoice not just in time to come but every day, resting in the knowledge of the provision and power and protection that the Lord gives to those He has chosen and anointed and blessed. The she would know that He delights in her and that He is proud to say that He is her Father.

Blessings,

Jannie Susan