Monday Motivation: Gypsy Garden

Friends

Are you a fan of flowers? How about surprises? Here’s a story that mixes a little of both.

 

By the way, please keep an eye out on my blog site or your email notifications. There’s a surprise on its way!

 

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Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.

Isaiah 64:8 – NIV

 

Has God ever shown up to you in the unexpected? He has for me. He did it in my driveway.

 

Yes, you read that right. God loves to surprise us, and He used the cracks in my concrete  to throw a surprise party. He used some tiny seeds, a little water, and a few brightly colored pots to pull off His showstopper of surprises.

 

God started in the small things as He so often does. He began with the precious vinca flowers that I adore. I love how their bright blooms create a riot of color wherever they are planted.  Vinca just has a zest for life that makes me smile.

 

It’s not just their beauty that captivates me. It is their resiliency. Vinca love to leave their mark, shedding their seeds into the soil to return the next year in mid-summer. As a matter of fact, I have vinca popping up all over my yard, the product of tiny seeds deposited into the soil in previous seasons. Those persistent little flowers are determined to rise up and show off again and again.

 

But God wasn’t satisfied with flower beds full of vinca. He had a better surprise in mind. He began His mischief among the tiny seedlings planted within the brightly colored pots that grace the top of my driveway. He supplied the raindrops supplemented by a little sprinkler water. As the plants grew, they shed their tiny seeds,, and the rainwater washed them over the rim of the pots, sending a river of seeds down the driveway.

 

Here’s where the surprise gets going. The seeds floated down the driveway and landed in the cracks in the concrete. Finding a bit of soil there, they took root, sprouted, and brought forth a cascade of colorful blooms.

 

Really, there is vinca all over my driveway. Talk about God showing up in the unexpected. Surely, this is God’s Glory on display, God’s Glory showcased in the cracks in my concrete..

 

In the cracks, the seed of growth was planted, the seed that spread from the beautiful pots just a few feet away. The seed that should have been washed away in the storm, but somehow clung to the crack, reaching out, hanging on, refusing to give up. The seed that found just enough soil to take root. The seed that despite the odds against it, sent forth lush green leaves. The seed that refused to call it quits, but instead now blooms brightly, its happy little flowers decorating my driveway.

 

God took the small, and made it significant. God took the overlooked, the forgotten, the invisible, and made a glorious spectacle for all to see. God took a forgotten seed and an ugly crack and created floral perfection. God took the mundane and made it miraculous.

 

If God can do that with a flower, how much more can He do with you? Maybe it’s time we expected the unexpected. Maybe it’s time to lift up those prayers and expect the answers to arrive. Maybe it’s time to believe that God loves to bless us, and His surprises are worth waiting for.

 

I find it so interesting that my driveway blooms first showed up in the summer of 2020,  emerging from the earth right in the middle of the Covid crisis. Amid the sickness and forced isolation of those uncertain times, we were all feeling cracked and broken. Isn’t it just like God to show up unexpectedly and bring forth beauty out of brokenness?  

 

those tiny seeds found those cracks and brought forth new life. Beauty rising out of brokenness. God bringing a blessing in the middle of the mess!

 

Again, if God can do that with a flower, how much more can He do in your life?

 

My  friends and neighbors are all talking about my annual driveway surprise.. One neighbor even coined it my “gypsy garden.” I love that! Unplanned, unbidden, and unimaginable…that’s my gypsy garden! Totally unexpected and absolutely amazing, just like our God!

 

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He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Psalm 147:3 -NIV

 

PRAYER

O Father God, how wondrous are Your works, how beautiful Your creation. Your light shines in the darkness bringing new life out of the cracks. In Your loving hands, broken can become beauty. Despair can turn to joy. O Lord, plant the seeds of new life in us that we might bring You all the glory.

In the Magnificent Name of Jesus, we pray,

Amen

 

Blessings,

Anita

 

-APS 8/8/2022