nature

pondering the pithy

Posted on by Grace Day

My neighbors are traveling – again. They have recently returned from one adventure only to embark on yet another travel adventure. I must admit – I am positively green with envy. This brings to mind the rolling stone – you know the one – the one that gathers no moss, right? Well, in this scenario, my neighbors are the rolling stones and I am the opposite of a rolling stone. I am the stationary stone. This would explain my envious green hue. Unlike my friends, the rolling stones, I have gathered plenty of moss. I am, in fact, covered in thick, green moss.

Although, if truth be told, there are plenty of times and seasons in my life, where I too, am a rolling stone. It is during these times of “rolling” that I lose my accumulated moss in the process of being no longer still, but in perpetual motion.

Still, I have to ponder the deeper question here. Is the implication of this often quoted, pithy saying that moss is a good thing or a bad thing? If the implication is that moss is a good thing, a desirable thing, then a rolling stone by virtue of its constant movement, is missing out on acquiring this valuable asset of moss. Moss does provide a warm and comforting layer of protection and adornment for the stone. So moss can be considered something good. This is one interpretation.

Or – is moss considered a burden – extra, unnecessary weight that slows the stone’s roll? Is the moss making the stone more beautiful or hiding the stone’s bare beauty? All these queries are a part of my pithy ponder.

It appears to me that to this point in my life, I have more often played the part of the stationary stone rather than the rolling stone. (must be why I have acquired so much moss) Neighbors have come and gone, friends have moved here and there, while I have been at the same address for many years. And I have the “moss” to verify my lack of “rolling” – a basement and a garage and closets full of the “moss” that accumulates with the passage of time. Are these “mossy” things that fill my home treasure or trash? That is open to interpretation.

But, fun fact. Time does have a way of turning trash into treasure. Ordinary objects become valuable antiques, sought after by collectors, when enough time has passed to turn them into rare and historical treasures. Ironically, moss is a sign that the “stone” has put down roots (so to speak) by virtue of staying in one place, even though moss itself has no roots. (moss has something called rhizoids which enable it to attach to a variety of surfaces)

Moss is a beautiful, velvety soft covering – a vibrantly colored plant that lives on every continent. That’s right. Moss grows in Antarctica and in the desert. Very versatile. So why would a stone want to cease its rolling and gather some moss? Maybe for the comfort a covering of moss provides? Perhaps for the protection or for the adornment of mosses’ emerald hues? Or could it be that the stone desires the moss that grows and flourishes with the connections that are formed, the community that arises, only when the stone stops its rolling?

But it’s hard to stop “rolling” in today’s culture. We are busy and we value busyness. So I too often keep on rolling and then wonder why I have no moss – no protective, comforting, decorative cloak and cover to keep me company. (who knew moss is a good companion?) This must be why God’s word says –

“Be still; and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10)

I don’t need to keep running – whether from something or in search of something. My Heavenly Father says I need only to be still. (and maybe gather some moss) He will meet me where I am. In fact, He says this –

“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Exodus 14:14)

And He says –

“In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.” (Isaiah 30:15)

I guess that’s right. I too often resist being still in favor of that fever pitch at which we all seem to be living life. I’m afraid to slow down and cease my incessant rolling. Why? I blame FOMO. (fear of missing out) It’s a malady of our current day culture. BUT – my Heavenly Father has something else in mind for me (and for you) –

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.” (Psalm 37:7)

“Do not fret”? Why? Because God’s got a better plan for me and for you too, dear readers. God gives us a wonderful invitation, if we dare to accept it and follow where He leads –

“He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul.” (Psalm 23:2)

Doesn’t that sound inviting? A chance to stop rolling long enough to lie down and rest. I’m pretty sure there’s moss in those green pastures and moss on the stones beside those quiet waters. It is in this place of stillness that my Heavenly Father restores my soul, I receive much needed rest, and moss has a chance to grow a comforting, protective, decorative covering over my once rolling stony self.

This is an open invitation from my Heavenly Father, an invitation that I want to accept often. I never regret the time I spend in His green pastures, beside quiet waters, being still, being restored by the life-giving Presence of my Creator. I will “be still and know that He is God.” I will gladly cease my rolling and gather some moss until my Heavenly Father calls me to “roll” again, to follow Him to some new adventure.

sincerely, Grace Day

pitfalls and potholes

Posted on by Grace Day

Currently my life is full of both – pitfalls and potholes. Both are plentiful and both are unavoidable. Both make navigating the road ahead of me difficult if not downright dangerous on a daily basis. Of course, this is the season for potholes in my city. The winter’s deep freeze is past, the spring thaw has arrived, the snow has vanished leaving behind the “big reveal” of roads now decorated with multitudes of potholes. It is definitely “driver beware” every time I get behind the wheel of my car these days.

Although I’m sure there are potholes all over the city, one of the worst stretches that I am aware of is on the road right outside my neighborhood. In order to get anywhere, this is the road I must travel, (usually multiple times a day) whether going right or left, in order to drive to work, church, grocery – basically anywhere I need to go, I must first pass through the pothole ridden road that leads to all things.

Navigating my pothole ridden road multiple times a day has become (and continues to be) a significant challenge which I am forced to incorporate into my daily routine. Practice does not seem to be making perfect, however. No matter how many times I travel this road daily, I still have yet to avoid all the potholes successfully. Some of them “get” me every time.

There are several reasons for this besides my lack of driving expertise. First of all, the potholes are multiplying on a daily basis. I must constantly adjust my game plan to avoid the known potholes and to incorporate the surprise new potholes into my updated driving strategy. It’s exhausting! Every day the obstacle course, that is the road, changes, always adding obstacles (potholes), never deleting – always becoming more challenging, never easier.

Potholes are a lot like life’s many pitfalls. Some are deeper than others, making them more dangerous and potentially more damaging to my car. Some potholes seem to grow deeper and wider by the day. Some potholes take me completely by surprise, perhaps because I took my eyes off the road to look at surrounding traffic for a moment or because I was going too fast to adjust to the unexpected pothole at the last minute. Some potholes are simply unavoidable, as are many of life’s pitfalls. The potholes are in my path and unless I move over into the lane for oncoming traffic, (also dangerous) I am forced to drive over the potholes or on the side of the road, which is also full of potholes.

By now, I have noticed that other drivers do go into the other lane if there is no oncoming traffic at the moment, which gives me the courage to follow suite and do the same. Otherwise, if this is not an option, traffic pretty much comes to a standstill in a few spots as cars attempt to navigate the numerous clustered potholes without blowing a tire or damaging their vehicle. It is an impossible obstacle course to navigate. I cannot keep all four of my tires pothole free simultaneously and still move forward. Like traversing a mine field, I hold my breath and proceed with caution.

Potholes on the roads I travel seem an apt metaphor for the pitfalls I encounter on my life’s journey. They are often deep, dangerous, unexpected and unavoidable. And they are more difficult to deal with in the dark. I can attempt to avoid the potholes on my street in the daylight because I can see them coming and make a plan. But in the dark, I am defenseless because I don’t see the potholes until it is too late to avoid them.

Light is essential in dealing with both potholes and life’s pitfalls. Therefore, one of my survival strategies is traveling in the light. But this is not always possible, because at some point each day, the sun will set and it will be dark. However, in my life’s journey I never have to travel in the dark, nor alone for that matter. Jesus said –

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

God’s light will certainly help me to avoid many pitfalls and potholes in this life. Light enables me to see them clearly and to go around them rather than falling into them. The psalmist said this about navigating the pitfalls and the potholes that I encounter every day.

“Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” (Psalm119:105)

I have God’s Living Word to show me the way safely around and through all life’s pitfalls and potholes, of which there is definitely no shortage! I wish my journey was easier, my road smoother. I find myself wondering why my street hasn’t been repaired yet. Why haven’t all these potholes been filled, making the street safer for us all? Miraculously, my Heavenly Father does do that for me and for you, too, dear readers. He’s been in the building better roads business for centuries. Consider what He says in Isaiah –

“This is what the Lord says to His anointed, . . . I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron.” (Isaiah 45:1-2)

Pretty dramatic – I’d be happy just to have the potholes filled. But there’s more –

“I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.” (Isaiah 42:16)

How comforting! How reassuring! Just what I long for – His presence with me, His light guiding me and the rough places now smooth! My Heavenly Father is with me, rescuing me daily from the pitfalls and the potholes that are a part of my daily life, an inescapable part of this life. BUT – He is also busy preparing something better – I just need to hang on!

“Comfort, comfort My people, says your God. . . . Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:1 & 4-5)

no more pitfalls, no more potholes

sincerely, Grace Day

dandelion wars

Posted on by Grace Day

Yes, I am still battling the dandelions in my yard and they are winning! By this time of year, I would have thought the weather would have joined the battle on my behalf and simply killed all the dandelions with cold temperatures. But we have had mild weather so far this fall, so my grass is still green and my dandelions are thriving. (my front porch flowers are still alive also!) I am happy about the latter but not so thrilled about the former.

My battle strategy of late has been both unconventional and utterly unsuccessful. Perhaps it is time to rethink my current methods of dandelion combat. Of course initially, in the spring I employed the services of a lawn care company. They kill the dandelions with their magic weed killing formula applied strategically and liberally. Although, in retrospect, I did have to request additional treatments this past spring/summer, because the dandelions in my yard staged a comeback or they resurrected from the dead? (whichever seems more plausible) Maybe it’s true that “you can’t keep a good dandelion down”?

Now, if you remember from previous posts, the dandelions’ unexpected return to my front lawn resulted in me receiving very legal sounding letters from my HOA. This caused concern and the need for additional anti-dandelion treatments this summer. So you can imagine my surprise at having to deal with dandelions in my front yard once again, during the months of October and now November. The dandelions have staged yet another comeback or possibly a successful coup! And they appear to be multiplying!

I don’t see the dandelions initially when they are bright yellow because they are low to the ground and hidden by the grass. But then, as if by magic, my lawn is filled with silver spheres of fluff atop long, slender stems. They are actually kind of beautiful against the backdrop of the still green grass. However, I know what those perfect silver balls of fluff represent – seeds that will turn into more dandelions – hundreds of them. Dandelions are definitely dedicated to God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply!”

So my plan of late has been to pick these stems with the silver fluff spheres full of seeds while the spheres of seeds are still intact. Then I carefully deposit said silver seed spheres into the trash. My reasoning is that if I get them before the wind has a chance to blow the fluff balls apart, thus scattering the seeds everywhere, I can prevent the seeds from falling to the ground, germinating and producing exponentially more dandelions.

Every day I execute this battle plan to perfection. I pick and dispose of all visible dandelion silver fluff balls, taking great care not to set loose into the air any of the seeds. This is ironic because as a child one of my favorite activities was blowing apart the dandelion fluff, so I could watch it float away, carried on the wind. Doing this was strangely magical and satisfying simultaneously, because just like birthday candles, one always makes a wish before attempting to blow all the fluff (aka seeds) off the dandelion stem.

While others were wishing upon stars, I was wishing with dandelion fluff and in so doing, I was aiding and abetting the dandelions in their mission to multiply, cover the earth and subdue it. Little did I know that years later, I would find myself fighting against dandelion multiplication, in an effort not to arouse the ire of my HOA. To this end, I persevere in picking dandelions from my lawn before they have a chance to disperse their seeds.

At present, however, this is not a successful strategy. Every day when I arrive home from work, I notice my front lawn again adorned with multiple stems topped with silver spheres of fuzz, even though just the day before I had removed every single one. Not only this, but their numbers seem to be increasing each day, despite my vigilance and persistence. I am losing the dandelion wars big time.

Why isn’t my battle strategy working? Maybe because, as is inevitable, some of the dandelion fluff is blown away before I get the chance to remove the dandelions from my yard. I can’t keep watch twenty-four/seven, so some seeds will succeed in floating away and taking new territory. Realizing I need to be more proactive, I also pick any yellow dandelions I see, so they don’t even have the chance to turn into seed filled fluff. But somehow, there are still plenty of silver fluff balls that appear as if by magic, even though I thought I had picked off all the yellow dandelions before they could go to seed.

Clearly, I am not getting to the root of the problem. (pun intended) My battle strategy to date has not included digging up the roots of the flowers (or weeds as they are more commonly called). Digging up dandelions by their roots is hard work and takes much more time than simply plucking the tops off of the plants. I would have to get down on my knees. I would have to be willing to get my hands dirty. I would need to put in the time and the effort needed to win this dandelion war. Clearly, I am not that committed.

At this point it occurs to me that getting to know my adversary better, would enable me to form a more effective battle strategy. To this end, I have studied my enemy and in the process, have learned some fun facts about dandelions.

Dandelions have really good roots. This is why they survive and even multiply in less than ideal, even adverse conditions that kill other plants. This explains why the dandelions in my yard thrive even while my grass withers in the summer heat. I think dandelions have better, sturdier, stronger roots. And my research proved me correct. Sonya Query, master gardener, says this about dandelions – “They can grow in almost any condition and can regenerate from a little piece of root left behind when weeding.”

Resilient – that’s what dandelions are. Query also says dandelions have long tap roots which are hard to pull out in their entirety. This is why dandelions are so hard to eliminate permanently. Because of how quickly their seeds can spread and how deep their roots can grow, defeating dandelions is definitely a daunting task. It is precisely their deep root that makes them so hard to get rid of. And each dandelion plant can produce up to 20,000 viable seeds which are dispersed by wind over long distances. Dandelions are definitely a formidable foe! No wonder I am losing the war.

BUT – now that I have studied my enemy, the dandelion, I kind of admire and respect my adversary. Why? Well, besides being beautiful (I love their sunny yellow color and their mystical silver fluff ball beauty) they are also strong, tenacious, resilient and adaptable to multiple circumstances and conditions. Dandelions are survivors. Dandelions are tenacious. Just when you think you have them beat, they stage a comeback. Dandelion’s are overcomers.

I want to be more like the dandelions adorning my yard. Just as their roots run deep, I want my faith roots to run deep, deep enough to survive all of life’s storms and changes in circumstance – just as the dandelions survive their constantly changing weather environment. They not only survive, they thrive and multiply because of their deep roots.

How ironic that after learning more about my adversary, the dandelion, I want to be more like my foe. I want my roots to run deep, so deep that I will be steadfast in adversity – so deep that I will remain faithful and even flourish when I find myself in the hostile environments of governments and of cultures and of historical times. I will be like the trees described in Jeremiah –

“But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

Being deep rooted like the dandelions is necessary for the survival of my faith.

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” (Colossians 2:6-7)

Rooted in Christ, the solid Rock, (now there’s a paradox for roots) – I can withstand life’s storms and furnaces, of which there have been and will be many. Remember, the dandelion will grow back if even a little of its root is left in the soil. So will my faith be preserved through every flood, furnace and tornado of life as long as even a mustard seed remains. And like the dandelions, who Query says “can grow in almost any condition”, my faith can flourish no matter my circumstances. In fact, Paul says –

“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:11-13)

Having the roots of my faith in Jesus Christ, that’s the key – just as the dandelions’ deep roots are the key to their survival. It’s like Paul told the Ephesians –

“that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19)

“being rooted in love” – God’s infinite, lavish, undeserved, undying, compassionate, merciful, eternal love – love, that’s good soil, the kind of soil in which my roots can run deep like the roots of the dandelions that have taken up residence in my yard, the kind of soil in which my faith can grow strong and produce fruit – just like the dandelions! (who are no longer my adversaries but possibly my new role models)

I guess the dandelion wars are over . . .

sincerely, Grace Day

talking trees

Posted on by Grace Day

Have you heard them recently? The trees, that is. I know you must have, as they are impossible to miss this time of year. These days the trees are practically shouting their praises to God all day long. At least that’s how it is here in the Midwest, where the trees celebrate autumn by turning their leaves every shade imaginable, including multiple shades of yellows, golds, oranges, reds, russets and colors I don’t even have names for, that manifest themselves when the sunlight hits their leaves. It’s as if the trees are participating in one last choral festival of celebration and worship before they lose their leaves and fall silent until spring comes to wake them up again.

In Psalms I read – “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” (Psalm 19:1-4)

However, the trees are definitely getting in on the action of declaring God’s glory and they are giving the heavens some stiff competition. I can’t help but notice that the trees have become especially vocal as they glorify God with their vibrant, breath-taking array of colors, with every leaf on every branch declaring their Maker’s praises! It is beautiful to behold! And the heavens are participating by providing the perfect backdrop to display these multicolored talking trees. The skies are turning the most beautiful shade of clear, bright blue – nothing like an October sky!

Everywhere I look, I see trees displaying their colors, their branches lifted to heaven, leaves laughing in the wind. I see them, I hear them, I am drawn into their celebration of God who created them. The chatter of the trees seems only to increase as more and more of their leaves turn from green to the bright colors of autumn, until their praise and worship symphony are at full volume, drawing me completely into their celebration of joy and thanksgiving. It is inescapable. (not that I want to escape) I go outside and my spirits are lifted into joy, as I walk in the presence of God’s talking trees. I can’t help but offer up my own praise, worship and thanksgiving to God, following the example of the talking trees that seem to be everywhere I look, each one more glorious than the last.

So today, I say “thank you talking trees” – thank you for letting your lights/leaves shine, giving glory to Your Creator, my Heavenly Father. Thank you for reminding me of God’s constant, glorious presence and for inviting me to join with you in thanking Him and in praising His name. Truly, the talking trees of autumn are one of the best, of God’s many “good and perfect” gifts. Surely, these words ring true –

“This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears, all nature sings and ’round me rings, the music of the spheres. (and of the talking trees) This is my Father’s world; I rest me in the thought, of rocks and trees, of skies and seas – His hand the wonders wrought.”

Thank You God for the talking trees of autumn!

sincerely, Grace Day

it was the sunflowers

Posted on by Grace Day

I suspected the sunflowers from the very beginning, and in the end, it turned out to be true, my suspicions proved to be correct – it had been the sunflowers all along. Now sunflowers probably seem like they should be the least likely suspects when any type of wrongdoing or crime occurs. After all, they are so cheerful. They don’t seem capable of deceit or malice of any kind. At least that’s what I’ve always thought, until now. I believed sunflowers to be a trustworthy flower.

But that all changed with tonight’s unexpected mystery drama. It started as an ordinary errand – me running into Meijer to pick up just a few things before heading home. It ended with me at the self-checkout scanner, discovering that I no longer had my credit card in my hand. Ok, that requires some explanation.

I entered the store, car keys and credit card in hand. Normally those two items are in a pocket of whatever I’m wearing at the moment, but my attire was void of pockets and it was just a quick stop, not major grocery shopping. I made my rounds quickly and was headed for self-checkout. At this point I passed the flower/plant area located right across from the checkout and seeing a large selection of beautiful sunflowers there, I decided to treat myself to some sunflowers to brighten my kitchen and keep me company. (sunflowers are supposed to be good company, being known as a friendly flower and all)

So I began pulling out different bunches of sunflowers from the black buckets of water that held them, so as to better compare the blooms and decide which bouquet I wanted to take home. My decision finally made after some brief agonizing over which was the prettiest, the freshest, of all the bunches of sunflowers, I proceeded to the checkout line. There I relaxed, pleased with my impulse purchase, as well as with the speed with which I had navigated my way through the large store, successfully selecting all the items on my list, thereby completing my task. I could cross it off my to-do list. However, my relaxed and self-satisfied state of being was abruptly cut short.

Imagine my shock when I wheeled my cart up to the scanner and discovered only my car keys in my left hand, no credit card! I could not check out. I needed to backtrack, to retrace my steps in order to see where I had dropped my card. Of course, the sunflowers were my first stop, but I did not find my card there. So next I went to produce, specifically the strawberries. There I had had a brief conversation with a stranger, a fellow shopper. We lamented together the lower quality and the higher price of the strawberries currently, as they are not really “in season” anymore.

She and her husband were still in this area as I sped through, and she became aware of my situation. She was very kind and concerned, looking with me in the area where we had stood and talked. Then I was off to continue my reverse route in the store. Not finding my card, I began to worry that it would fall into unscrupulous hands who would then use it to purchase all kinds of things that I could in no way afford. I thought of the melting ice cream in my shopping cart. (priorities?) I thought about checking with the store to see if a good Samaritan had perhaps found my card and turned it in.

Then I came to my senses and made a plan. Leaving my cart at the checkout place in the care of an attendant, I went to my car to get my phone and a different credit card. I called to report my card lost and put a “lock” on it. Then I got back in an even longer line to check out. After checking out, I couldn’t give up the feeling that my card was still somewhere in the store, as yet undiscovered. So I decided to take one last tour of the store in search of my lost card.

This time my search was calmer because my card was already “locked”, no one could use it. I definitely got my steps in as I walked again everywhere I had been previously. You can cover a lot of ground in big stores like Meijer. I’ll never know my step count because I don’t have one of those devices, but I’m guessing it would have been an impressive number if a count were kept. So I’ll count extra steps as an extra blessing for the day.

Then, because my eyes were on the ground, I found a penny! Somehow that’s always a big deal to me. Don’t ask me why, must be a childhood thing. Also, I ran into the kind lady and her husband again, as they were still in the store. I thanked her and assured her that things were taken care of even though I was still searching. This time I went in the order in which I had shopped, instead of the reverse order, which means my very last stop of my very last search, was – you guessed it – the sunflowers.

I scanned the floor and the tables on which the black buckets of water filled with the bouquets of fresh flowers sat. I had looked into the two buckets holding the sunflowers previously, but this time I stuck my hand down into the water among the stalks of the sunflowers. Nothing in the first bucket, BUT – in the second bucket as I felt around, reaching all the way to the bottom of the bucket, I felt it! My credit card! I was right all along. It had slipped out of my hand when I was pulling out sunflowers to examine before deciding which ones I wanted to buy. This was the last thing I did before entering the checkout line.

The sunflowers were harboring, actually hiding my credit card all this time. But they did proffer a peace offering of sorts. When I pulled my credit card out of the water, a packet of that stuff you put in the water to keep your flowers fresh longer, came out with it! The sunflowers I had purchased, didn’t have one of those packets attached, so perhaps this was their attempt at appeasement, their apology for pick pocketing my credit card? (and for melting my ice cream, for causing me stress, panic and worry)

As I write this, the guilty sunflowers have been cut down to size and are sitting in a ball jar on my kitchen table. They certainly are a cheerful, friendly flower but I don’t know if I can ever look at them the same way again. We’ll see how I feel about them in the morning. Right now they remind me of the short-lived panic I experienced when I realized I had lost my credit card. How easily my peace and composure were shattered – until I came to my senses and realized there were readily available solutions to this problem. I was not in danger, no one was hurt.

It was a minor, unexpected inconvenience – a mystery that was rather quickly solved. My Heavenly Father is with me in the deep hurts and tough circumstances of this life. But He also cares about my mundane mystery of the missing credit card – He provided the kindness of a stranger, a penny, extra steps and that stuff for the water to help keep my guilty sunflowers living and lovely longer. (although, if I had not decided last minute to buy sunflowers, none of this would have happened – maybe there’s something to be said for sticking to one’s list with no deviation? – no, what fun would that be?)

I sure was filled with all kinds of worry and panic though, when I first realized my credit card was no longer in my hand but somewhere in the very large, very full of people store. In fact, I was surprised at how quickly I became fearful and anxious. And in this life, there is always something, usually many things, that can make you and me fearful and anxious. But our Heavenly Father does not want us to live full of fear and worry. Jesus told us this –

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:25-34)

The sunflowers sitting on my kitchen table are God’s “lilies of the field”, clothed in perfect splendor. When I look at my sunflowers, instead of remembering my temporarily misplaced credit card and my accompanying panic and worry – I will enjoy their cheerful beauty and the peace their presence brings me because they proclaim God’s infinite care for all of His creation, including me. God takes care of them. He is taking care of me day by day.

It was the sunflowers who hid my credit card – it is the sunflowers who shout God’s goodness and glory from my kitchen table –

sincerely, Grace Day