A ROSE IS STILL A ROSE

      A ROSE IS STILL A ROSE

By Dana Christmas-McCain

Aretha Franklin sang a song in 1998, “A Rose is Still a Rose.”  The chorus reads, “A rose is still a rose, baby girl you’re still a flower, he can’t leave you and then take you, make you and then brake you, baby girl you hold the power!”  I thought to myself, these words were so impactful for me and needed to be shared with you my beautiful young women and I pray that you will be blessed.

            See, my testimony is very reflective of this song and so it remains true for many of you or other young women you know.  My testimony is not filled with I saved my virginity until I got married.  My testimony is not, I refrained from drinking strong liquor but “everybody in the club getting tipsy”.   And I too have “blamed it on the alcohol.” Every chance I was in the club and my education was not first priority. 

I can celebrate the life of a child today but years before, I did not want to have children.  I did not desire to get married but praise God that He knew better.  Both areas of my life marriage and child have been such a blessing to me thanks to the One True God!  Despite the way I observed my father mistreat my mother and his lack of involvement in the life of all three of his children; the Lord allowed me to be a recipient of His love through the union of husband and wife.  The Lord also softened my heart in the area of having a child and He blessed us with a beautiful baby girl named Madison. 

            So, no my sisters, your testimony may be filled with what I could have, should have, would have, and did not but, Jesus came to save that which is lost.  Your testimony can be that “Yes, this is what I was but this is who I am now in Christ Jesus.”  Praise God that the very things I was engaged in did not kill me because the penalty of sin is death.  But God in his long-suffering nature looked beyond my faults and extended his mercy toward me and he does that for you too.  

As Celie from the Color Purple said, “I may be black, I may be ugly, BUT I’m still here!”  All that you are, and all that I am does not change the fact that we are still here and life is not over until God says it’s over.   Aretha put another spin on it, “A rose is still a rose!”  Regardless of what I was or what I did, it does not change the fact that I’m a rose and I’m here. In God’s eyes I am forgiven and when you confess your sins, you surely will find mercy.  There is mercy because when you confess your sins, God is faithful to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you of all your unrighteousness.  Take hold of the fact that you are here today daughters, your life has purpose and it has value.  Know your value, know your worth!

You also need to know that you hold the power.  Know that every great man or woman whether recorded in some book or caught on tape has evidence within their own consciousness of each fowl word, sin or indiscretion they have ever made.  We have all done things that we would not deem as praise worthy but the Bible reads in Ephesians 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

God did not wait for us to “get it right” because He knew that we could not have done it if we tried.  Therefore; He sent his only begotten Son to die on the cross for the sins of the world.  God loved you first and I believe that in order to know love or love in its truest form you must accept Christ as Lord and Savior.

In accepting Christ, you believe that you are lost without Him and if it had not been for Jesus Christ becoming a curse on a tree for the sinful (you) deserving of death, then can one appreciate how the Bible defines love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-13.  Then, “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it, Colossians 2:13-15. Hallelujah! 

Sweethearts, there is no condemnation for them that are in Christ Jesus and there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God.  Thank God they did not kill us but a demonstration of that power is owning up to the mistakes we have made and then using them to speak life into our other young sisters lives and those to come.  What I have learned is that broken people, people that have experienced what it is called life have not all been defeated or destroyed.  By the grace of God, I have been spared hallelujah and light my sweethearts can come out of that darkness we experience in life through Christ Jesus.  Light is the power which we neglected to see because of the darkness that surrounded us and were entangled in. 

That light beloved is the knowledge of being enlightened by the lessons we learned from our mistakes but wish to share them with others unselfishly and willingly because you ought not to see another life suffer on the account of withholding life-saving information.  Your life, carries light that can transform the thinking of another young woman that is contemplating making the same mistakes you have made but the question is now, “Do you perceive the sister next to you as a rose?” 

We have to remember as we sit here today that even though some of us may not be in full bloom, if we are honest, none of us are.  And when I mean full bloom, I’m referring to the possibilities that she can be but while we sojourn through this thing we call life, there are some roads we don’t have to travel.  Let us be good to one another appreciating the potential found in each other and provide the necessary detours while traveling down life’s plain.  There is a way that seems right unto a person but when our sisters are having a difficult time with knowing which avenue to take, will we expose their pathway with the light of God’s word or will we watch while they crash and burn?

My prayer is that we can be and will be found sharing in this garden together while appreciating the beauty in us all.  Be Blessed!