Hydrangeas remind me of my wedding day, and many childhood days where they were brought in for the table at my Grandmother Geddie’s home. Large blue hydrangeas surrounded her Dossie Mae, the weekend summer cottage and pink ones were in her back yard on Clifton Street. They were always full and happy plants and ripe for granddaughters to bring inside without being fussed at for cutting flowers. When Dh and I married, my flowers came from my mother’s Sunday School class yards….they are Southern gardeners and I was given literally five gallon buckets of roses, lillies and hydrangeas as well as white lace flowers to decorate the historic home we were married in. A dear friend and I made bouquets, put them in centerpieces and enjoyed the morning of the wedding making the beautiful home full of fragrance.

For two years I have tried to grow hydrangeas in Arkansas. We first bought them from a nursery and on sale….they did beautifully right up until the neighbor’s dog decided he loved the taste of them……ate the whole plant and pulled out the roots.

The second round didn’t go much better. The spring floods in Arkansas came and the roots simply couldn’t handle the water.

When we moved to Alabama, I so hoped we could find some bushes to buy. We went to several of the plant stores and they had none. My yard is small and planted by someone else so imagine my excitement when I found not one but three thriving plants on the side of the house this week. They had been cut back and ground level for the winter….but in this week’s sun they had grown to be 2 feet already! …and those stems up from the ground turned into pink and white roses….my favorite! One of the gifts of this house has been its previous owner was a perennial and rose lover. These last few weeks have taken us from an empty yard, full of emptiness to one rich with many kinds of blooms….

I kinda feel like that right now…..that this winter I was empty of God’s richness…. I realized I was dormant. I wasn’t digging in the Word and allowing His light to warm me and to help me grow. The last few weeks as I have spent more time in the Word….I feel He is growing me too……and hopefully in a way that will bloom lovely to be shared with others. I am definately having to weed the garden of discontent as it comes forth in my day. I am learning to take out those thoughts and actions that hinder peace, joy, and contentment. (do you know how hard lazy is to dig out of my garden?) The weeds are sometimes very tough, I have to dig down to find their root…..they grow back easily if I don’t get every piece of that root uncovered.

All of us have so much within us that God is just waiting to bring forth……these spiritual gifts are not planted in us to stay but to grow and give away to others…..

It’s a beautiful day in Alabama….one in which it is easy to think of the blessings I receive daily….so for this moment I will see what I can do to bloom where I am planted, which at the moment is a messy house much in need of attention by that trusted one house servant of mine……where is that lazy girl? (oops she’s still on the computer writing to you)

Roses shared from our yard in Arkansas
for my stepmother’s bouquet
for her wedding to my father.