This is one of my first pieces of embroidery done. The medium is white cotton with embroidery floss on a 6” hoop. The flowers include (from left to right) buttercups, Queen Anne lace, lavender, the red fruit of winterberry, and chicory.
I’ve mentioned the start of my embroidery before. I received a large amount of floss for free from a family friend. I started learning how to embroider from tutorials and videos on Pinterest.
All of the flowers and the bush (winterberry) are wild where I live. The Bible makes note of what wildflowers can mean. The most famous mention of flowers in the Bible is the lilies of the valley, which will be coming in an upcoming post. This verse uses flowers as a form of warning:
“For, ‘All humanity is like grass, And all its glory like a wildflower. The grass withers, and the flower falls off, But the word of the Lord endures forever.’ And this is the word that was proclaimed as Good News to you.” (1 Peter 1:24-25 TLV)
Here, the Apostle Peter is describing to his readers the righteous people of God. We should be holy, because God is holy. From Jesus’ sacrifice, we get eternal life and thus should apply ourselves to bringing heaven to earth with our actions.
Wildflowers are temporary. They only last the summer season. However, the embroidery sample has both wildflowers and a sprig of winterberry. Winterberry grows wild where I live and is one of the only forms of holly that loses its leaves. In the winter, the red berries come out (making this sampler a bit anachronistic). The winterberry is more like what Peter mentions in the verse before:
“You have been born again—not from perishable seed but imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God.” (1 Peter 1:23 TLV)
Our salvation is imperishable. It does not fade in the winter or go dormant. It is like the winterberry, producing leaves in the warm seasons and berries in the cold seasons. We need to recognize that our faith and salvation does not wear off. Therefore, the actions Apostle Peter implores us to do, acting in righteousness as God did for us, should be continued as the winterberry continues to produce year round.