Wednesday, September 9, 2009

The Hope in a Garden



Today while doing yard work, I noticed that a single rose had bloomed on one of my several neglected rose bushes. I have not fertilized, nurtured, or even watered the roses this year. They have been greatly abandoned by me. This has been a year when I wanted to give up gardening because everything I planted either died or withered away. A year of trying to make things happen, and they just didn't happen.

But today when I saw that rose, it reminded me that flowers still bloom when we least expect them. The promise inside a seed will produce a plant, a flower, a fruit sometimes--even when we least expect it. If a flower bloomed out of neglect and abandonment, how many more roses would my bush have produced if I had nurtured and given it lots of attention? I felt the gentle nudge of the Holy Spirit say, "Don't give up. Continue to nurture you dreams. You never know when a beautiful rose will emerge and surprise you."

1 comment:

Joseph T. Richardson said...

This is so lovely, Mom, and so very hopeful. Thank you.