Dear Friends,
Gardens are so much like life. Several years ago I started referring to my children as "my garden". People say that children grow like weeds, but I always thought of them as flowers. I am always seeing relationships between my garden and faith and life. Today I want to tell you about my unpredictable garden and how life can be that way.
Last spring I bought a packet of Cosmos seeds that had a picture of a vase with multi-colored blooms on the front. Some of the flowers were pastel and some brightly colored. The thin stems with fern-like leaves holding the flowers was what I could imagine growing here. This combination was just right for my cottage garden!
I planted them in the perfect sunny place and waited. The delicate stems grew and buds formed and started to bloom. White ..... white ..... white .... no blushing pink with yellow centers, no velvety scarlet, no royal purple, only white. It didn't take long until I had to admit that they really are pretty in a tall, feathery white sort of way. When the wind blows a gentle breeze the delicate stems dance and the blossoms wave back and forth like small, white-gloved hands! This is very different from the picture on the packet. The place where they are growing would be empty if I pulled them out and it's too late in the season to plant more, so I water them, take pictures of them and add them to bouquets. It's okay if they are all white. They look nice with the other flowers in the garden.
On October 24, 2000 our daughter Autumn Sunshine was born. When I held her for the first time she had the same fresh-from-God scent that all new babies do. She was small and fragile and different than I had expected. They whisked her away and came back and told us that she has Down Syndrome and that they had detected a heart defect. This was the first of many health challenges that we have faced with Autumn. Nobody plans to have a child who needs special care. I have times that I don't know if I can do life another day. But God gives me what I need. My garden was given a special surprise. The place where she grows in my heart is full of Sunshine.
Psalms 139: 14
"I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works..."
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