My husband, Wil, loves daffodils. He caught daffodil fever as a child when he saw a Disney cartoon of singing daffodils. Their trumpets formed the mouth and the surrounding petals framed the face. At that time, he?d never seen real daffodils because they don’t naturally grow in Florida.

Wil considered those cartoon flowers so unearthly that he thought an artist must have invented them? until he moved further north with colder winters where he saw real daffodils. Not only surprised that such captivating flowers existed, the brilliant yellow also enthralled him. You see, Wil is colorblind. To his eyes, most other colors are shades of gray. But yellow pops!

So as a gardener who loves him, I make sure we have plenty of yellow daffodils blazing in our yard as the spring sunshine fans them to life after the gray winter.

We add different varieties to our garden every year or two, and now is the season to plant. I received a mail-order box of daffodil bulbs last week and planted them over the weekend. The bulbs were ugly, with warts, scabs, scars and bulges. Shades of gray. It?s messy business, digging up dirt (and worms and grubs), adding compost (rotted leaves and kitchen scraps), burying the bulbs, drowning them in mud so their roots can form, and leaving them alone until cold weather freezes their growth. But without the dying process, they would remain alone in the soil. No resurrection of yellow daffodils.

Just like a seed, Jesus reminded His disciples, ?? unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain? (John 12:24).

When He said that, Jesus was telling Phillip and Andrew that ?the hour had come for the Son of Man to be glorified.?

?Wow! That?s awesome!? Phillip and Andrew may have thought. ?Finally, we?ll stand with Christ as He conquers the Romans and gives us twelve thrones to rule beside Him!?

But then Jesus spoke of dying like a grain of wheat, and even worse, ?He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

I don?t like this ?dying and hating life? that comes before the ?glorified and eternal life.? It doesn?t have anything to do with grasping for my rights in relationships, does it? Or holding an unforgiving grudge against someone who mistreated me? Or demanding that I have the new gadget or fashion for which I obsess? Or nourishing my mania with ________________ (fill in the blank)? Or demanding that others agree with me or approve of me?

Um, yes. Actually, it does. Something has to die before it can be resurrected. Jesus knew that for us to resurrect into the satisfying joy of our identity as beloved sons and daughters of Father God, we must die to our attachments to this world. In other words, to get beautiful daffodils, the ugly bulbs must be buried and die.

?If anyone serves Me,? Jesus continued, ?let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him my Father will honor.?

I want to be one of those servants who can be found wherever Jesus is. I want to seek Father God?s honor, not the honor that comes from the world. But does that mean to follow Christ into death (of self-will)?

It hurts to bury the attitude that thinks it deserves its own way, to surrender our rights of revenge and sow forgiveness instead, to cut the cords that chain us to the things of this earth. It hurts to die. But Jesus indicates that there?s no other way. To become who He made us to be, to find the joy of fellowship with Christ and fulfill our purpose in Him, to ?know Him and the power of His resurrection,? we must surrender to the ?fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, [we] may attain to the resurrection from the dead? (Philippians 3:10-11).

Jesus, thank You for showing us the way to overcome the things of this world. As the Firstborn from the dead, Head of the church, we follow You. We open our heart for You to show us the parts of our lives that need to die. Break the cords that bind us to the things of this world. We nail them to the cross and leave them in the grave. Give us strength and faith to overcome as You did. As we conform to Your death, let us know the power of Your resurrection!

Matthew 19:28; Romans 8:14-21; 14:17; Philippians 2:1-11; Colossians 1:15-18