At home...

This photo is from my back yard. The tulips are long gone now and lavendar and other flowers are taking over the space they held this spring. But for the short season they were there, they brought me hope.

I had forgotten planting them last fall. In a spontaneous moment, I went to a garden center last fall to catch up with a childhood memory. That garden center is where my mom used to go to get any number of finds for her lovely gardens. I used to dread going there, but it was one of the few things that I remember mom really enjoying. So, on a grey day last fall, when I was needing to remember a happy family time, I bought some tulip bulbs. Dozens of them. It took me a week to plant them.

It was what I needed then just to get outside at the end of the day to plant a few here and a few there. I laughed with my mom on the phone as she gave me tips on getting the perfect depth and where to plant them. It was good to connect with my mom in that way. And it was better to be outside, with my hands in the dirt, praying....

I'd forgotten all about those moments by the time spring came around. It was a very demanding spring this year, for a lot of reasons. Much more than usual. So when I went outside and saw the rows of bright colours along my fence, and in this garden too, it brought a lot of joy to me.

What a simple thing. Stick a few bulbs in the ground. Forget. Wait what seems like forever for some warmth... and then, without any effort, there are beautiful spring flowers.

I remember coming home after a busy work day, and stopping with wonder. And felt the hope symbolized by spring: Easter Joy. Tulips, freesia, lily of the valley. All in bloom.

Jesus spoke to my heart that day. He reminded me that he sees all of the moments, remembers all of the moments we forget. Prayers, offered long ago, may seem buried. But they are not lost. In the right season, at just the right time, he shows us brilliantly that he heard us....

Exd. 13:4-10