Category: Watching for God

When the sun came up yesterday morning, I was delighted to see that my yellow irises were blooming. They even have a name, Money. They bloom every year right around my birthday and they are like a birthday wish from heaven.

My maternal grandmother died the month before I was born and so I never got to know her. As time went on, my granddaddy had a companion and her name was Kittie. She became a grandmother to me.

Long after Grandaddy died, we celebrated birthdays and Christmas with her. When I went away to college, she and I exchanged letters once every couple of weeks. We continued that practice until she was placed in a nursing home in her eighties. She was very special to me and I know that God placed her in my life.

She loved irises and grew different types. She entered them into a yearly contest. Sometimes she would complain that they bloomed too soon or that a late frost would mar them, but the yellow ones called, Money, were her favorites. They often won her a ribbon.

After she went home to be with Jesus, her house sat vacant and was set to be torn down. I called her sister and asked if it would be okay if I went and dug up some of her beloved irises. She gave me her blessing and so my hubby and I went and dug up the bulbs.

We planted them in a patch around a tree so I could see them from my kitchen window. They didn’t bloom the first year and then I found a little cat statue with angel wings and placed it in the bed. Kittie loved cats. I could vividly remember her teeheehee, giggle, when I put it there. The next year I was blessed with blooms along with beautiful memories of her.

Now, every year right around my birthday, those blooms pop out. They stand straight and tall as if they are pointing to heaven. They remind me of the importance of those who walk with us along our journey. They remind me that sometimes family doesn’t come to us through blood, but through God’s special blessings. They remind me of a beautiful soul who isn’t here physically anymore, yet her memory remains.

They remind me that life is short and that we need to make our moments count. They remind me of the Randy Travis song, Three Wooden Crosses. “I guess it’s not what you take when you leave this world behind you; it’s what you leave behind you when you go.”

That’s easy to forget sometimes in our constant rush, but sometimes it’s good to be reminded. Sometimes it’s good to stop and ask ourselves, “What will we leave behind when we go?” A different kind of Money reminded me today. Perhaps you need reminding too. Let’s make this day count.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

A couple of days ago, I sat down at my kitchen table and had a pity party. I had just returned from the doctor’s office after a breathing treatment and armed with an antibiotic. My week-long cold had turned into bronchitis and I was sick and tired of feeling sick and tired.

My sweet hubby, bless his heart, was trying to fix me something for lunch even though I had no appetite. When he sat down and joined me, the tears began to fall. Nothing was going right. Why wasn’t God answering my prayers? Weren’t we doing all of the right things? Why were all of my plans failing?

Now, my hubby has spent close to twenty years living with me. He didn’t intervene. He just sat there quietly listening and let me wallow. He didn’t have any answers. He didn’t offer any, but he also didn’t try to make me feel better. I suspect he knew that while I was at a low point, my own faith would help me find the light.

We talked for a little while and he went back to work.

It’s interesting how God can work through our people, those who we hold dear. I didn’t really need for him to point out all of our blessings; I knew they were there. I was just in a dark place at the moment. My hubby knew through his own faith, that he couldn’t get me out, but he knew who could and so he just listened.

I found myself asking God all that day where He was and why I couldn’t feel Him or see Him at the moment. My faith told me He was there, but like a child, I wanted proof.

The next morning, I awoke super early. I couldn’t sleep for some reason, but I felt better. The antibiotic was working. I had the entire day to myself with nothing on the schedule, so I asked God for a quiet day, one where I could seek Him and hear Him.

I did some Yoga as I prayed, in front of a window. It was the first day I could breathe deeply in a week. I kept noticing the wind moving in the trees and I had my answer.

We can’t see the wind, but its power and ability is evident in the world around us. It moves the trees and cools the earth. It makes wind chimes create beautiful music. It can also be quite destructive. Just because we can’t see it, doesn’t make it real and present.

As I was pondering that thought, my eye was drawn to a bush that comes back every year. I have no idea what it is. I didn’t plant it, but it’s beautiful and hardy and comes back on its own. It reminded me that while I do have work to do, God is working too, on things and plans of beauty that I can’t even fathom.

My part is to simply trust and be patient. I felt incredibly encouraged.

Sometimes I need reminding. Perhaps you do too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

I recently visited my parents. They have a huge yard and a ton of really beautiful things were blooming, but my daddy couldn’t stop talking about the tea olive bush. When he pointed it out, I was unimpressed. With all of the bright, showy things blooming, it wasn’t much to look at.

But, he just couldn’t stop talking about its smell. I reluctantly gave it a sniff. My mind was immediately changed. He was right. Those tiny, unassuming flowers were intoxicating and I just couldn’t get enough. Every time I walked by it, I could catch their glorious scent. How had I missed it before?

I was reminded of an incident as a teen involving a plant and my parents. They had this ugly plant called a Night Blooming Cereus, that sat in the corner of our family room, but they tended it lovingly. It only bloomed in the dead of night, once a year and they often missed it. Yet, they still cared for it.

My daddy often went on about the fragrance it gave off and said that he could tell the minute he walked into the room, that it had bloomed.

Well, one magical evening, it bloomed while we were all awake and you would have thought that my mama had just given birth. She must have taken twenty pictures of it.

I had a friend over that evening and we laughed and thought my mama was nuts. We really didn’t get her excitement. But, some twenty plus years later, I do.

Just like that tea olive in the front yard, there’s way more to this seemingly unassuming plant than meets the eye. With nurture and love, it produces a beautiful bloom and an intoxicating scent. Those who don’t pay close attention will miss it.

I wonder how many blessings I have let pass me by, because I didn’t take a closer look. I wonder how many people I could have helped bloom if I had have been more persistent in prayer and with nurture. I wonder how many people have a beautiful scent to share if I were to lean in a little closer.

I wonder if I give off an inviting fragrance for Christ. When people lean in a little closer to me, are they pleasantly surprised? What about you? What kind of scent are you giving off?

The Bible tells us, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.” 2 Corinthians 2:14

That tea olive reminded me to not only lean in a little closer to those around me, but to also ask myself how I’m doing spreading the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂