The Man has been traveling along life's road a long time.
At times He is tired, weary and alone.
He reaches out, has touched the lives of many,
but yet, He still searches.
Searches for the one thing to fulfill Him,
to make Him whole.

While walking His life this day,
He comes upon a wilting rosebush.
It captures His attention. He looks, and walks over to it.
Upon arriving at its side, He notices one bud,
closed tight, yet struggling to come forth.

He kneels down, then loosens the dry earth around its roots.
He pours some water at its base.
He pets the leaves and speaks words to it.
He sighs, gets up and goes to complete His day.
Every day, when the sun first peaks,
He is at this bush, nurturing, speaking, breathing upon it.
But every day the bud seems unable to open.
He finds Himself drawn to this bud, knowing in His mind
that one day, this bud will open into a beautiful rose.

One morning upon His arrival, He bends down,
His breath softly touching the bud,
and wonderously He sees, the bud is starting to open.
Excitedly He starts coming more often, each time seeing
more and more life upon this rose.
He continues His nurturing, speaking and breathing life into it.
He tells the rose of all the wonderful things there are in the world.
He tells the rose what it means to be strong.
He tells the rose of what it means to love and beloved.
He tells the rose of a His need to find someone,
someone with which to explore all He has ever imagined.
Gently He strokes the flower, speaking of the thorns He knows,
an excitement He gives,
a desire He craves and hungers for.

The next day He approaches the place where the rose should be.
Anxiously He looks around. The rose is nowhere to be found!
He drops to His knees to dig in the soft warm soil of the
earth where He once nurtured His rose.
With a heavy heart He stands to His feet,
a sadness overtaking Him.
He turns around and starts to walk away.

With a glance back at that place that has meant so much to Him,
He is met with a vision.
Quickly turning around, He sees a woman,
on her knees, her face looking downward,
and in her hand...
a rose... fully bloomed.