Miracles. Everywhere.

"Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."   ... Matthew 17:20

******

Where've I been? Experiencing deepest gratitude. 

Oh Winter, truly, must've lasted forever because for two weeks the greening of our trees has felt like a miracle. Really, I stand outside and gawk--you'd think I'd never seen such a thing before.

And finally, after 6 years of perennial-planting, my flower beds are caring for themselves. Well, nearly so. And the lesson? 

Give plants and people time in which to grow. Mature. God's not in a hurry and to Him the process is big. Cooperate, slow your expectations--and know peace.

Another miracle? (Though some of you won't like it.) I told you before that a church bought the plot of land at the end of our street (opposite side) and plants vegetables for our neighborhood in raised beds.

Well, they also planted three baby evergreen trees exactly across our view of the river through the picture window. What a disappointment! Those trees stay bushy-thick all year 'round.

And ok, I confess: I prayed the trees would die. And two of them did(!) The two especially in the way.

Now, calm down. Before anyone's eyes bulge and pop, let us remember the little thing about Jesus cursing the fig tree, ok? (Mark 11.) And how He said if we had mustard seed faith we could move mountains.

Er hem. Anyway, I think it's wild. Reminded me how, out at the farm, I prayed they'd move the street sign from in front of our sunroom--and they did(!) Eight years later, that's still shocking--and feels like a special thing God did for me.

Moving on-- For nearly 7 years I've wished (maybe prayed) someone would remove the ages-old ugly telephone pole across the street. Four feet of its bottom part were whacked off and it was connected to a new, lighter-color pole. Leaned a bit, too.

Guess what? This week men unhitched it from the new pole and took it away. Farther down the street they did the same thing to poles with the same unsightly set-up.

That happened while I visited with Sally who's celebrating her 80th birthday(!) I brought her a card and we looked at the fish in her new fish tank from her kids. On Saturday her grandson-in-law drove her to church for a potluck, but turns out it was a huge surprise birthday party. (Sally said she nearly had a heart attack.) Even her kids from Ohio came.

Oh, and we had our carpet cleaned and the guy (the owner) even washed the old 5' x 7' area rug on our front patio! (Who does that? I'll definitely leave a 5 star reference on his Facebook page.) Also, he returned yesterday to give extra help for a spot which I probably ruined a couple weeks ago (don't ask. It's horrible, but I'm attempting to keep it in perspective.). For free, but we insisted he take a tip.

Oh glorious Springtime when I become all Energizer Bunny-ish! How easy to pray, believing for miracles beneath your sunny skies. But may I believe through all seasons, even grey, stormy ones, as well, when I'm tempted to be all down and moody. 

And may I never miss, nor take for granted, a single miracle handed to me from the Giver of all good gifts.

                                   It's that frothy-like-ocean-foam time of year.





Remember: Complaining and whining and giving-up are not the same as praying. Sounds obvious, but sometimes we spend hours doing those things and only seconds, praying. And everything turns a little hazy: did we pray? Or only wish?


Dare to believe.

*******

Did you know that Trading Spaces is back?! It's on TLC.

Hooray for the return of creativity! What fun to watch folks decorate outside the box again, rather than all that grey paint and granite countertops HGTV constantly feeds us.



******