Planting Day

Daily Gratitude Year 13 - Day 130: Today, I am grateful for planting day. 

I grew up with the steadfast rule of not planting flowers until Mother's Day. It has become our tradition. We have learned to buy a few things early, like my precious King Tut Papyrus and any fabulously bright flowers, because they sell out. They have been Randy's "babies" because when they are gone, they are gone. He suns them by day and brings them in for the night.

Along with King Tut, my favorite flowers in the yard are my zinnias that started with seeds shared by my lifelong friend, Roxanne. I smile every time I pull into the yard and think of her. The blooms are colorful, wild, and fabulous all summer long. 

I cannot forget a shout out to Jill Parod for sharing seeds from her Hyacinth Bean Vine many years ago. Her one envelope mix of wildflowers has offspring across our little neighborhood. (Now is the time to plant if anyone needs seeds... let me know.) That vine on our mailbox is another of my summer favorites that lasts into the fall. 

Planting is a time of dreaming, wishing, hoping, and praying. Every seed... to me... is a miracle. Something hard and dead can come to life with proper care, water, and a little sunshine. 

We, too, can come to life with proper care, His Living Water, nourishment from His Word, and a little Son-shine. He is the Master Gardener. He knows where we will flourish and bloom. Sometimes he moves us out of the easy and comfortable places so that we can grow stronger roots and produce more fruit. Pruning never feels good, but it brings a beautiful harvest. 

I love this promise:

" While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”-Genesis 8:22

Today, I am grateful for planting day.