bloomin' glory

Something caught my eye while I was looking out the window in the kitchen that faces the backyard. My "cow" cat likes to sit on the dryer and watch the birds that land on our pool cover and the garage roof, so I pet him and console him because he sees little winged KFC meals and can't have them. But out of the corner of my eye this incredible patch of color made me look toward our chain link fence where my favorite flowers climb. I was determined this year to have the super-sized cerulean blue belled variety of morning glories decorate our fence, and I got a packet of scarlets for good measure. And they did grow, with benefits. Not only did I get my sky blues, I got a cloud of delicate light blue blooms with pale blue stripes. They are lovely. But now I have these blooms that are almost cobalt and purple with intense magenta stripes. They're like raver morning glories! I can almost here the phat beats coming from the fence...where in the world did they come from?? I ran out in my bare feet over the wet grass to get a closer look, and I have never seen color modulation like. And then in combination with my scarlets and the other blues-it's like a black choir of hues and tones!

I didn't know I'd get such a color show when I bought my seeds. Shoot, I didn't expect anything, but I was determined. I had tried in the past to grow these lovelies, but apparently not hard enough. This year I dug in a fresh spot, laid down premium soil, soaked my seeds and waited until not a whiff of frost was possible. Then I planted. And waited again...and waited, telling myself not to be too disappointed if they didn't come up. It was later in the summer, but the distinctive leaves on a different colored vine began to show. The vines grew, but I didn't have any blooms for a long time. Then one day, the first color patch caught my eye. Man, you cannot miss that particular blue. It's indescribable. Very slowly more blooms popped open, and then the lighter blues came. I was happy as a clam! I did not expect yet another color of bloom to appear, and maybe it is due to the cooler temperatures. Doesn't matter. More than I ever could have expected came out of the effort I put forth preparing and planning.

I hope...I pray this is how God sees me. He has worked harder than I'll ever know preparing me, growing me, laying down fresh experiences, letting me lie dormant, hearing my complaints while that was happening and waiting. I don't wait well. But seeds don't come up over night. The problem with us is we have to cooperate and choose to go under that soil. I think of the scripture that alludes to this, that unless a seed falls to the earth and dies, the possibility of any wonderful thing it may become will never happen. And I know certainly we are so much more to Him than mere flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow. Still, the comparison is made as well that human beings are like the grass of the field, springing up in the morning and being mown down in the evening. The week has been one like I haven't had in a long time. God is calling forth the cobalt blue and magenta in me. Things I didn't know were inside or didn't believe would ever be part of my life, are now part of my life, like that bloom that just appeared one day. I laid down on the couch after last night's CR meeting wondering how I ever got here. I thought back over the week and wondered where the power came from to meet the challenges in my path, and I realized, I chose to go there. And my sneaky heavenly Father knew I would, so He was there long before me. He knew my heart from the start and was planning this all along. And I don't want to miss anything else He might do, so I can't fear the planting, because without that, mate, there is no bloomin' glory.