No Delicate Flower | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: No Delicate Flower | Previous Challenge Entry
By Donna Powers
04/22/25
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Did you ever meet anyone who didn’t seem to fit their name? I thought I did, once. Our high school recently hosted our state’s high school soccer tournament. As our school’s principal, I attended the event to support our soccer teams. I was proud to boast about the success of our boys’ and girls’ soccer teams, as they had both risen to State levels.

One of our girls’ team’s opponents was from a local Christian school. Their team was called the Crusaders, and their coach’s name was Iris.

During the games that preceded my girls’ match with the Christian school, I had a chance to watch Iris, as she coached her team. Iris didn’t seem very much like the delicate flower that embodied her name. She ran out on the field with her girls, and she carried herself like a pro football player. Her voice and mannerisms were brusque and tough. I couldn’t help but admire her toughness and see how it infused itself into the spirit of their play.

I was single at that time, and my preferences for dating had previously led me to women more who would fit the name “Iris” more succinctly. But I was drawn to this Iris. As I watched her play soccer with her girls, the essence of her exuberant spirit attracted me in a way that I hadn’t felt in a long time.

But what impressed me most was the last few minutes before her team played against our girls in the tournament. I saw her gather her team together and kneel with them in prayer. I saw her gently touch the shoulder of each girl, and it looked as though she prayed with each of them, individually, as they got ready to play.

The Crusaders annihilated our girls’ soccer team. They went on to take the third-place trophy in the tournament. Our girls’ team did their best, but they ended up in seventh place.

There was a banquet for all the teams and their families, after the tournament. During the banquet, I was determined to meet Iris. I told her I had felt drawn to her, and, although she seemed surprised, she seemed to enjoy talking with me.

My attraction grew as we began talking, and I admit I didn’t spend as much time with our school’s teams as I probably should have. As the banquet was ending, I couldn’t resist asking her about her name. I suggested she must have sometimes been teased about how poorly her name seemed to fit her.

She laughed. Her laugh was as comforting as a bear hug. “My mother loved flowers. I guess she hoped I would be as delicate as an iris. But that’s not the way I turned out.”

I assured her that she seemed to have turned out just fine. She continued, “I guess Mom might have been disappointed in the way I turned out. I tried hard to be more 'girly' when I was a little girl, but it just didn’t work. I loved catching frogs and bugs with my brothers, and I loved playing sports with them, too.

“My Mom loved me no matter what, but I could tell she wished I had turned out to be her delicate flower. After a while, I began to realize that although I will never be like an iris flower, I could fulfill the definition of an iris, differently.”

I was curious, and I asked her to continue.
She explained, “I realized that an iris is also a part of the human eye. The function of the iris is to let light into the eye, so it can be interpreted by the brain. I realized that 'light' could apply to Jesus, the Light of the World. From then on, I did my best to share my faith with my classmates and sports teams. Now that I’m a coach, I use every opportunity to share Jesus with my team. Since I work at a Christian school, it’s encouraged.”

As she prepared to leave, I asked for her phone number. She seemed surprised, but she gave it to me. She teasingly asked if I wouldn’t prefer to date someone a bit more like the flowery version of her name. I wasted no time assuring her that she was as flowery as I would ever want a woman to be.

Twenty years later, my wife, Iris, is still the flower of my heart.

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“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” – Ephesians 2:10

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