A little prince, from another planet, becomes stranded on earth. He is anguished. The prince cannot attend to his beloved rose for which he promised. He recalls how he met his flower and how the seed sprouted one day. Anticipating to see what grew, the prince watched anxiously to see what type of plant sprang forth from the incomparable seed. Suddenly, a unique flower blossomed. The prince was exuberant–“How lovely you are!” Indeed, it was a beautiful rose never before seen by his eyes.
On his tiny planet, the rose asked the little prince “Would you be so kind as to tend to me?” Taken aback, he demurely agrees. Finding a watering can, he served the blooming flower.
The little prince looks after his enchanting rose as promised. He fell in love with her. At last, she revealed her own affection for him saying “Of course, I love you.”
After climbing a mountain, the little prince became bewildered and downcast when met an entire bed of roses. His rose, which he believed was special and unique in the whole universe, was actually not one-of-a-kind after all! Unlike his own world, where there is only a single rose, the earth contained fields of the same flowers. Forlorn, the little prince responds that his once special prize was merely one of “five thousand of them.” The flowers were “all just alike, in just one garden!”
Despondent, he adds, “I thought I was rich because I had just one flower, and all I own now is an ordinary rose.”
An insightful fox suddenly appears and challenges the little prince saying, “Go look at the roses again. You’ll understand that yours is the only rose in all the world.” The little prince has an epiphany and returns to where he met the rose garden. He shouts “You’re nothing at all like my rose…But my rose, all on her own, is more important than all of you together since she’s the one I’ve watered. Since she’s the one I put under a glass. Since she’s the one I sheltered behind a screen. Since she’s the one for whom I killed the caterpillars…She’s my rose.”
Realizing the previous fault in his thinking, the little prince repeats the phrase to himself, “It’s the time you spent on your rose that makes your rose so important.” His heart is re-galvanized with love towards his flower.
I can’t think of a better allegory of love in romantic relationships than this story in the famous book, The Little Prince. What makes marital love, love, is caring for a unique person for a lifetime. I don’t believe there is only one person we could marry. But I am convinced that he or she becomes The One when you choose to serve and care for them. Our own rose is the one person we choose to invest in.
Once we make the commitment, we can ignore all of the other roses that try to plant themselves in our garden. We aren’t distracted by similar-looking flowers because we know how much gardening we have done with our own.
The little prince discovered this beautiful truth: We love what we invest in. We value those things or people that have happily consumed our time, energy, money, and talents. If I spend only ten dollars on one company’s stock, how the company performs is inconsequential to me. My investment was minor. On the other hand, if I invest a hundred thousand dollars in that same stock, I’d have a hawkeye on it to make sure the company was doing well. That is why Jesus says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
The same is true for relationships. People don’t leave relationships where they have poured their life savings into. Instead, they leave relationships where they have regularly withdrawn their emotional, physical, and spiritual deposits. When just ten dollars remain, it’s easy to invest another trivial amount in another company.
Friends, keep investing in your most important relationships–even when you don’t see dividends. Each relationship has its R.S.M. (Relational Stock Market) and it will fluctuate. Most marriages will bounce back if you stay in it–that’s how God designed it. Studies show that if couples stay committed to it, the majority of marriages will improve within a few years.
What about you? Have you been stuck in dating purgatory for years trying to find that perfect someone? Did you choose to take care of a rose but then was enticed by another? Have you discovered that the most satisfying relationships in our lives are the ones we tend to?
Maybe there is a rose currently in your life that needs your water. Have you neglected to shelter and water them lately? First, fill up your internal water jug so you can give it to those who depend on you.
At the end of the story, the prince shares with his pilot friend. “People where you live [on earth]…grow five thousand roses in one garden…yet they don’t find what they’re looking for…” “And yet what they’re looking for could be found in a single rose or a little water.”
Indeed, there were thousands of other viable roses in the garden, but what made his flower special was that he tended to it, nurtured it, guarded it, and loved it.
Before finding his way home, the little prince looks up at the stars towards his planet and laments, “My flower’s up there somewhere.”
Have you not found your flower yet? Take faith. He or she is out there somewhere. When you see them, treat them like the only flower in the universe.
What do you think about finding ‘The One?’ Leave a comment below!
