Hi, all! Just a thought to help start your day. 

Have you ever gotten a close-up and personal view of a magnolia flower bloom? Lean in a little closer and take a great big whiff of this one. Well, obviously, a photo just doesn’t do it justice.

When fully opened, these flowers can be rather large, about the size of a dinner plate, up to twelve inches across. Their smell is about as large, very odiferous. Those blooms are also extremely recognizable. They are usually very noticeable, and it would be hard to mistake any other flower as a magnolia, and vice versa.

Because I was born and raised there, I’ve always known the magnolia as Mississippi’s state tree and also as the state flower. The redesigned Mississippi flag carries a magnolia bloom at its center. Roads and highway medians are lined with magnolia trees.

I’ve discussed this “thought” somewhat before, but we all need reminding, especially in today’s world, that as God’s representatives here on this earth, we need to stand out. We are to be an awful lot like the magnolia. We are to be large (to stand out and be positively different). We are to be odiferous (to be recognizably more pleasant in a world that stinks). We ought to line the highways and byways so that others see us as they come and go.

What if the Christian was recognized as Mississippi’s or Alabama’s (or any other’s) State Person? What if we, those who bear the name of Christ, were so positively recognizable in today’s world that the world took notice? What if others recognized Jesus in us?

One of our old hymns contains the phrases, “Take the name of Jesus with you …  Take it, then, where’er you go.” If a magnolia bloom was affixed to our lapel and we wore it as a badge of honor or a boutonniere, the power of the flower would probably overtake anything else about us! Let’s carry Jesus with us in the very same way this week! Be noticeable. Make a difference like none other.

Just a thought. ’Til later.

Brad Campbell can be reached at mastah.pastah@yahoo.com.