Planting Roses in Wartime

Discussion Questions 

1. Read Galatians 3:23-29; you can find the passage here. Then read the devotional below, “Planting Roses in Wartime” and use these discussion questions for further reflection.  

2. This passage in Galatians claims that we are all equally children of God. Is there a time when you treated someone as less than a child of God? 

3. Do you feel overwhelmed by tensions between people, between groups, and around the world? How would your own spirit find comfort in planting roses (or something similar)? 

4. What reminders of beauty and resilience do you notice around you today?  

Devotional 

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. – Galatians 3:28 (NIV) 

In George Orwell’s book, Animal Farm, a farmer badly mistreats his animals. The only peaceful time is when he passes out. A pig named Napoleon organizes a revolt. The tyrant is overthrown. The animals live peacefully without humans … until Napolean becomes a dictator, using violence and fear to control the animals. He drives out rivals. He uses another pig, Squealer, as his propagandist to spread fake news about farm productivity. He justifies his power, saying, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”  

George Orwell was born in 1903 in India, at the time considered the “jewel in the crown” of the British Empire. He was an adolescent during the First World War and later joined the Spanish Civil War to fight fascism. Before his death, he saw the rise of the Cold War and growing nuclear arsenals. 

In 1936, Orwell stepped outside his small rented cottage in the countryside of England, knelt in the dirt, and planted roses. They grew as a beautiful statement that the fight for food and freedom is not enough. People need beauty, delight, sanctuary, and a seed to plant where goodness grows and love blooms.  

We live in frightening times. But we can still kneel in the garden and plant seeds of justice and healing that take root in us and our communities. In the 1500s, Martin Luther allegedly said, “If I knew the world would end tomorrow, I would plant a tree today.”  

We do not know what George Orwell was thinking as he planted roses. But on these mornings of expanding wars, it is no saccharin sentiment to plant seeds of hope. Planting roses is an expression of resilience, an affirmation of goodness, and an inspiration to continue planting life wherever death tries to prevail.

Prayer
Loving gardener God, help us plant and weed the garden, giving the roses what they need to bloom.

About the Author
Dwight Lee Wolter is pastor of the Congregational Church of Patchogue on Long Island, NY, and the author of The Gospel of Loneliness, published by The Pilgrim Press.