Common Gorse

A common sight is common gorse. As a plant it is ugly and spiny, generally turning brown and unattractive. Despite this, its flowers smell a delicious peach and provide a rich, bright yellow on otherwise bland moors and dunes. It is able to grow in poor soils, and its wood can be used to make cutlery, due its low toxicity. Useful, secure and, in season, most attractive. Outside of flowering (July-December) it has little to commend it, but when it does, it can be enjoyed for miles, especially when many bushes bloom together.

We Christians, though as prickly and unattractive as all others, are increasingly entering our flowering season. The more we fellowship together, the greater the impact of our Christian witness. Christ's sweet scent becomes more potent than our sharp and thorny natures.