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The Pansy is derived from the Violet species and gets its meaning from the French word pensie: thought or remembrance.
IN PLAIN SIGHT, Seeing God’s Signature throughout Creation by Charles R. Gordon, M.D., p.122-124
According to Dr. Gordon, we are “instinctively drawn to symmetry.” A butterfly and a pansy are symmetrical objects. “Babies are drawn to symmetrical objects” which helps them “focus on their mothers’ faces.”
Could this be the reason that the last gift my Little Jonathan presented to me just two days before he became ill and within a week died, was a purple pansy? (Jonathan was my only birth child and died after 7 days on a respirator).
Was he saying, “Mommy, remember me and I will remember you?” Was Jonathan saying, “breathe, Mommy” or was he saying “stop and notice the tiny ‘something else’” (as Dr. Gordon references).
Some part of me changed during that week of weeks, waiting for test results, waiting to hear a good report, a report that Jonathan would be okay. While he was slipping away from this world, I was dying inside watching it happen. Was this a message from God? Was God speaking into my life to take time to be more amazed by the delicate items and acts of symmetry as I held the tiny puple pansy in my hand everyday while I waited for my miracle, the miracle that did not come the way I asked for it to happen?
The miracle of the tiny purple pansy placed in my hand stays in my Bible now, shriveled and faded, still speaking a message to me: “Mommy remember and think about the good times.”
It was Easter, only five months after Jonathan died, that I had a dream. I saw my Little Jonathan playing near a flower bed of pansies. He was in his overalls and looked so happy. I ran fast toward him saying, “Oh, Jonathan, Mommy has come to take you home!”
“No, no Mommy, I stay!” was his quick reply. I woke from the dream, tears in my eyes yet a peace and a remembrance and a thought—if he had a choice, coming back would not be an option. He had reached the most joyous place, a place prepared for him and for me, his mother whose face he will not forget. Nor will I forget his big blue eyes and blond hair!
Dr. Gordon references Werner Heisenberg’s “uncertainty principle…the more precisely the position is determined, the less precisely the momentum is known”—meaning “the very act of observing something changes it”; or in reverse, “the act of observation changes the observer.”
Jonathan’s death forever changed me. When we stop to observe life’s interruptions and take time to reflect, we ask ourselves a myriad of questions: Why? What possible meaning for good could come from this? How can I turn this into good? How will this affect my life?
We get to choose our reaction to the little “something else” in our lifetime.
Could it be that the God who created this world—the purple pansy, the sweet little child, and the mother who at times is frazzled with daily chores with little time to worship, to think about her blessings, and to remember all that has been hers to enjoy—is calling us to stop and enlarge our flower bed of pansies?
Let us glory in the thoughtfulness, the worship, the remembrance every time we take the tiny bread during Communion and hear this scripture read from I Corinthians 11:24 (NIV): “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” Let us remember that Jesus took small things, things like bread and wine that have become so significant today. Let us remember His miracle with two small fish and some biscuits.
During this Mother’s Day season, let’s look for the tiny somethings that help us remember. Let’s treasure the good things and be thankful for the blessings. Let’s give worship for the symmetrical wonders we encounter!
Sheryl Coffey
Sheryl Coffey is President/CEO of a nonprofit organization known as RAC-G. Sheryl’s education is in Christian Education, She has published her story in a book ‘A Lingering Fragrance”. She has founded ‘The Fragrant Hours Ministry” after the death of her only child. Sheryl displays her perfume bottle collection to illustrate the message from II Corinthians 2:14-16. She is married to Lee Coffey. Has lived in Tyler almost 20 years. Member of GABC. Bible Teacher at Christian Women’s Job Corp. 
