The little things in life

Welcome friends, old and new alike to my blog. I’m glad you stopped by. I am so pleased to be a featured “inspirational” blogger on Mama Hen’s Nestwork. Grab something to drink and a snack and get comfy. I’d like to share a little story with you.

First of all, let me say that for years and years I’ve learned to appreciate the little things in life (being on an extremely tight budget will do that for you). Actually, that may have all started when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras. Living in a “room” built with mud and straw bricks and a dirt floor without indoor plumbing has a way of making one humble. As crazy as it sounds, I absolutely loved it. One of the locals really explained to me just how less is more. She told me, “The more you have; the more you have to worry about what you have.” That point has really stuck with me. Anyway, the point of all of that was to say that I consider myself a simple woman, and it doesn’t take much to please me. I think once my husband figured that out after the first few dates, he dropped to one knee on the spot and asked me to marry him! Just kidding; let me get on with the story.

Tidal Wave Silver Hedge Petunia

camera doesn't do this justice!

For the past couple of years for Mother’s Day I’ve given my kids a couple of bucks a piece and asked them to choose flowers from the local hardware store to plant in my flowerpots in the backyard. Voila-Happy Mother’s Day to me! I do not have anyone’s green thumb, but I figure even I can manage to transfer an already grown and blooming flower from the 4-inch pot it’s sold in into a larger pot with some dirt with relative success. I love the thoughtfulness that goes into my kids’ choices, and they have a good time handling the money and mixing and matching the varieties and colors of flowers. Last year, they selected an absolutely beautiful variety of petunia called a Tidal Wave Silver hedge petunia. It was the palest shade of lavender with deeper purple veins because purple is my favorite color. I planted it in a small pot all by itself. It was just that beautiful! The little plant really showed off and bloomed and bloomed through the summer.

See how much it grew?!

When the weather turned cooler and the plant quit blooming and dried up, I pulled up the brown stem and abandoned the barren looking terracotta pot on the patio in the backyard where it sat through winter’s wind, rain, sleet and snow. Yes, snow! You see, I live in North Texas so we really don’t see much snow, but this year did we ever see snow—like 12 inches in 24 hours. I know that’s not much to you northerners, but just to put things in perspective, schools and businesses close around here when there’s a threat of 2 or 3 inches of snow, so 12 inches in one day was a HUGE deal for us.

that's the little pot with a mound of snow on top!

When the kids and I went out to play in the snow, I noticed first of all that my little pot looked like a giant snow cone.  Secondly, after all of the snow had melted, I also observed that the pot was cracked in two. Oh well, I thought, I’ll deal with that in the spring. Then winter gave way to spring, and the days were filled with blue skies and warmer weather once again. From time to time I’d go past the little pot in the backyard and think I should do something with that before someone bumps it and gets hurt or makes a mess. Still, I left it.  Then one day I noticed a little green shoot sticking up. It looked similar to the leaves on the petunias my kids bought me for Mother’s Day this year, so I let it be to see what would happen. Sure enough my Wave petunias were back as beautiful as ever-cracked pot and all.

As I reflected on this phenomenon, I considered all that little seed had been through: too much water; not enough water; too much cold, not enough sunlight. Even its home had given way to the freezing temperatures; yet still it survived. Isn’t life just like that, friends? We deal with all sorts of adversities, but they are balanced with good times and sunshine. The best part is, just as God protected that tiny little seed buried in the dirt because it still had work to do and its beauty to share, He is with us on our journeys, too. Whatever you may be going through, He is with you. Psalm 62: 8 says we have but to: “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.”
Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope I didn’t keep you too long. You’re welcome to come back anytime! Until next time…

This is the gift that kept on giving this summer