This year I was happy to have all the kids home. James and Hannah played in our tiny orchestra at church. That was a blessing. The music was a wonderful addition to an already glorious day. I cooked the traditional roast, rice and gravy, and green beans. We had dinner and then Scott hid eggs for Hannah and James. He is so clever. He told H and J that some of the eggs (golden and blue ones) contained something extra special. Of course that sparked some "friendly" sibling competition, but the prizes were typical Scott. A folded napkin, pop gun bullets, a plastic ring. Nothing to fight over to be sure. I love Scott's sense of humor.
Changing thoughts, two days from now, on April 22, it will be 9 years since my grandmother "Nanny" passed away. There are still many things that remind me of her. For example, she taught me how to cook a roast. It was her meal for company. We always had one when we visited her house in Mobile. Her love of flowers is another reminder. Huge azalea bushes surrounded her red house on Hunter Avenue in Mobile. She always had containers of flowers on her patio...well tended and cared for. The first few years of my marriage, she would always send me home with something to plant...daisies or a hydrangea bush.
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| Nanny's last birthday with us...age 97 |
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| The Easter Lily...even though that isn't the right name. |
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| Christmas Cactus |
That brings me to the thoughts behind this post. In December, God gave me a gift. No one else would ever appreciate this except me. When Nanny moved in with me in 2003, I brought a Christmas cactus from her house and kept it on a table in her room. I have never in 11 years seen a flower on that cactus. I also dug up some kind of bulb from her flower bed and planted it in my own flower bed. I believe the bulb is some type of lily, and each year it bloomed in the spring it would add one more flower. Last spring, no lily flower. I think my bushes choked it out. Nonetheless I was pretty sad. I looked for my reminder of Nanny and all that she meant to me, and it wasn't there. Well, as you may have guessed, that year in December, the Christmas cactus was in full bloom. I didn't do anything different. I gave it the same amount of water and light. It just bloomed...all over. Not just one tiny flower but plenty. God's gift to me. His reminder that he remembers me. He knows me inside and out, sins and desires and goodness. He knows me well enough to cause a flower to bloom and remind me that I am His.
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. Matthew 6:28-29
Blessings,
M
