Naked Ladies

 

About ten years ago, I was shocked by what my sweet mother said.  She said offhandedly, “Oh, Miss Sanders lives on Clayton Road, just up the hill past the Naked Ladies.”  I said, “What?!”  My mother chuckled and said, “You’ve never seen Naked Ladies, have you?”  Again, I said, “What in the world are you talking about?!”  With a twinkle in her eye, my mother said, “Let’s go see them.”  And we got into the car, drove out of the driveway, and left onto Clayton Road.  About a mile later my mother said, “Stop here.”  And she showed me a clump of beautiful, leafless flowers beside the road.  Belladonna Lily they were called, or more commonly, “Naked Ladies”.  These lilies grow early in the spring with lush green foliage.  But late into spring, the foliage dies leaving only the underground corm.  Then, late in July, the flowering stem shoots up from the corm with a beautiful flower on a single, naked stem.  No leaves, only a beautiful flower.  What my mother meant and what I thought were two completely different things.  On a different level, we sometimes use innuendos and double meanings to confuse and even shock folk.  But the Lord expects us to be clear and pure with our speech.  Romans 14:16, “Let not then your good be evil spoken of.”  Say what you mean and mean what you say.  Remember, the Lord is watching and listening.  May we make Him proud today in what we do and say, is my prayer.