Glad to be Crushed

"Oh, beautiful rose, please tell me,
For I would like to know,
Why must I crush your petals
That sweet perfume may flow.

Oh, that life is clothed in beauty,
Perhaps like that beautiful rose,
You will need to be crushed by suffering
Ere you give out your best; who knows?

A life that is crushed by sorrow
Can feel for another's grief,
And send out that sweet perfume of love
That will bring some heart relief.

Oh, do not refine at your testing,
When called to pass under the rod,
It is that life might the sweeter be,
And comes from the hand of God.

He knows how much we are needing,
Of sorrow, or suffering, or test,
And only gives to His children
The things that He knoweth are best.

Then let us rejoice when He sendeth
Some sorrow or hardship that tries,
And be glad to be crushed as the rose leaf,
That sweeter perfume may arise."
- Flora L. Osgood

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