Sweet Surprises

Don't you love it when, out of the blue, something beautiful shows up?

Looking up in your rear view mirror as the sun sets with an orange glow that throws leafless trees in dark relief. Hoar frost that causes the world to shimmer magically on your chilly morning walk.

Late last fall  these delicate sweet peas were uncovered in the back garden by my friend Denise, when she was tidying it up for me. It was a challenging time, my shingles still hanging on, leaving me in a fair bit of pain, exhausted and unable to get much work done.

And then she brought me these . . .

Later, in my greenhouse, camera in hand, tears sprang into my eyes as I fluffed and faffed with these pretty little flowers. There are always sweet surprises, if you look for them . . .

They are personal surprises, bits of beauty that speak straight to your heart, reminding you that God isn't a distant, vague Father who cares about you in the abstract. He knows you intimately and goes out of his way to remind you of that. All we have to do is keep our eyes, and hearts, open to see it.

That's what these sweet peas were to me. A tiny bit of unexpected loveliness in a hard time. A reminder that, in the end, God triumphs over all.