Not For Us

It was almost nine pm and I had just gone downstairs. As I approached the kitchen I was pleasantly surprised by the scent of the orange jasmine bush wafting in the window. I had noticed the same fragrance in the wee hours of the morning as well. It seems that the scent is strongest when the sun isn't shining.

The orange jasmine, known locally as Dok Kaeo, is one of the first plants I learned a Thai name for because there was a plant on the campus of the language school we attended. That bush was blooming soon after we arrived in the country. Orange jasmine is not related to jasmine, but it is in the same plant family as orange trees. It gets its English name from the nature of the fragrance that emanates from its blossoms.

Orange Jasmine
Shows off to the eyes in the daytime
and to the nose at night

 

There are several species of plants that bloom at night including many types of cactus.  One of the more famous night bearing cacti in Thailand is the dragonfruit, which is planted for it's large, edible fruits.

Dragonfruit Blossom

Dragonfruit

When we lived in northern Thailand, we had several cornstalk dracaena plants in our yard. At first, I wasn't sure why they were planted, as they weren't spectacular to look at. Then, one night as we came home in the dark, we were overcome by the scent of a powerful floral bouquet. It was the cornstalk dracaena plants blooming.

Cornstalk Dracaena Blossom

Because we aren't often out after dark, we don't always get to appreciate these kinds of flowers. It seems odd that God designed these flowers in such a way that we can't appreciate their beauty so much because they show off after dark. Apparently, God designed them not for us humans, but for those creatures who pollinate them that are active at night. God and loves us humans, but He also cares about the other creatures he has made.

Jesus said:

²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? ²⁸"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Matthew 6:26-30 (NIV)

And again:

²⁸Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. ³⁰And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. ³¹So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows. Matthew 10:28-31 (NLT)

If God so cares for all these things that He has made, then we ought to as well. God made all of creation, including the animals, before He made the humans. First God made Eden, then He placed the people he made in in the garden to look after it. But when Adam and Eve got a little too proud, God kicked them out of His garden.

So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.Genesis 3:23 (NIV)

Mankind's relationship with the rest of Creation has been not the greatest ever since then. Not content to be part of Creation, Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden fruit because they wanted to be Lord of the Garden as well. And that pride continues to this day. Humans have done some amazing things with the resources that God has given us. But sometimes we act like we are Lords of the earth, rather than acting like fellow creatures who have been gifted with all these things by God. The fragrant flowers of the night show us that not everything was made just for us.