Bloom of the day: Crashed Sunflowers!

 

 Sometimes in life, there are things that just turn up and we just have to process them.  As I mentioned, we had a big storm in this area last week; the picture above shows 24 blooms from one sunflower plant that was totally uprooted, the East coast had an earthquake today.

  Personally, my work has been very busy, I am going to be traveling again, I managed to get a patch of poison ivy on my arm and over-extended my back doing "gardening for hire" plus my own gardening.

  I also felt compelled to clean and purge every closet which has stirred up some internal storm from looking at old documents that had old hurts attached. 

   I have tried a thousand ways to make an old boyfriend something that he is not, and he was not and that is why I left, though I still slip the puzzle pieces around, wanting them to fit. I have almost completely lost a pinkie finger nail; how weird is that?  That too, is a gardening casualty that is taking its time in becoming right again.

  What you won't see, in all of this, is me saying "I am sick, my back is out of whack, my fingernail is gone, I am tired" (read "Waa, Waa, Waa) as a friend used to say.  We can always find things to be thankful about and for.  Perhaps it is thankfulness for what could have happened and did not, sometimes, for just the little things that surround us.

  Clouds in the sky, a rainbow after the storm, seeds for next year's planting from downed plants, heat sources for the back, ibuprofen for soreness, friends to share a summer tomato with.  These things are that which ties us forward to a new day, a smoother day.

  I saw a woman I know that has had breast cancer but is coming back to herself.  Thinner she is, and  does not have her natural hair yet but she had the bloom of color in her cheeks and was thankful that she was able to take treatment in a warm and bright place during the winter months. 

  Now that is courage, bloom under diversity, blooming where you are planted.  I salute her example of strength and trust.

  I met some college girls who have come to our small town for their first year of nursing school. That is promise for a new day, promise for the future that when I need it, some good and kind young woman will be there to care for me.

  So instead of complaining that there are tourists downtown, gawking, snarling up traffic in our little oasis, look at it as a down payment for good nursing care when we require it.  Banking sunshine for the future.

 Look for God's provision underneath all of what is before you, and you will find it.  I saved the heads of those 24 sunflowers and I will be able to garner seed stock for next year from some.  The rest will feed the birds and squirrels.

  As for the rest, well, it will just take some time.  Care to share a glass with me?

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