God, Grow Me a Garden.

I have never been much of a flower person. I certainly would not describe myself as someone blessed with a green thumb. Even when I received a flower delivery. I never felt flower excitement. I was grateful but never over the top.

Then one day one yellow flower changed everything for me.

My mom was very ill and in the hospital. During her illness I rarely left her side. There was nowhere else I wanted to be. Sitting beside her was the only place that felt right for me. On this particular day, my mom was being taken for some tests. As they wheeled her away. I told her, I was slipping outside just for a moment to get some fresh air and I would be right back. I honestly needed someplace to cry, without my mom seeing me fall apart.

Outside, I quickly found an isolated space to sit, which was on a cement wall. For a moment, I allowed myself to feel overwhelmed and I cried. I had only a few seconds to breathe in some fresh air, release my fears and sadness, and get back inside to my mother.

As I started to stand, I looked down beside me and there it was. Growing from a tiny crack between two cement bricks was a single yellow flower. It seemed so out of place. There was no soft soil surrounding it and no carefully tended hospital flower landscape nearby. There was only hard, cold cement. Yet somehow, that flower had made its way through and was thriving.

I could not take my eyes off of it. I noticed the brightness of each yellow petal. Each petal was perfect and untouched. Its stem was slender, straight and strong. For those few quiet moments, the world felt still to me. The hospital, my fears and all the sounds surrounding me no longer existed. It was just me and this one vibrant, single yellow flower that appeared larger then life. I began to cry hysterically.

In the middle of my mother’s pain and suffering. I felt the presence of God. I felt God had placed this beautiful flower in front of me to see. It was something I normally would have walked past and never have noticed. How could a flower grow from nothing. But somehow a seed, turned into a little flower and pushed its way through two cement bricks. My heart was so heavy on that day and I needed hope. A simple sign of hope! I truly believe that flower caught my attention, because God needed me to see something so delicate, was growing strong against all odds. I needed to see life could push its way through the hardest places.

That one little yellow flower gave me enough strength to wipe away my tears, take a deep breath and return to my mother’s side.

Today, I notice flowers. I notice their colors and stems. I notice their beauty and their quiet strength that withstands all kinds of weather. I notice the care people put into tending their gardens. A flower is no longer simply a flower to me. A flower is a reminder to me of the day God knew exactly what my heart needed.

I’m still not a gardener, but I’ve learned to appreciate a flower delivery more. Now when spring arrives and the ground becomes soft. I go to the dollar store and buy those tiny packages of seeds. When I get home, I open the packages and say, “God, grow me a garden.”

I have never carefully prepared the ground. I do not fertilize the ground or plant perfect rows. I simply toss the seeds, water the area and leave the rest in God’s hands. And year after year, God has never failed me. He has given me the most abundant, beautiful garden.

My flowers grow tall, strong and unbelievably large. Their colors are so bright and vibrant that my neighbors often stop to ask me what is my secret.

There is no secret as I always remember that yellow flower at the hospital.

The picture of the flowers are from my flower garden, that God has grown for me over the years. “God, grow me a garden” and he has never failed me.