Buffeted by the wind

I step outside and the wind runs up to meet me. The strong breeze cools me as I walk around my garden – I am, after all, a woman of a certain age.

Green grass is soft beneath my feet as I inspect our rock garden. Hardy perennials, aggressive in their ownership of the space, flourish. Their greens and pinks nod as I pause to look. Spindly annuals cannot compete at this early stage of summer, but I know they will lose their shyness as the days pass and they grow into their space.

Stronger now, the breeze, almost wind, pushes me towards our row of bushes. The row is a medley of colour, size, shape and variety. This year it is looking a little wild – and I like it that way. I know that a discussion of neat and orderly, initiated by hubby, surely looms on the horizon.

The wind nudges me along the row. I marvel at the unique shape and shade of each bushes’ leaves.

Tiny pink petals make up a larger flower with flowery webs and spikes adding to the difficulty of describing such beauty.

My eyes become teary, but it is not the wind’s fault. The beauty of Almighty God’s creation overwhelms me. The scenery blurs. But the wind pushes me on. The wind. Pushes me on.

How tempting it sometimes is to pause, to stop, to stay too long in one place. Beauty, comfort, a familiar unchanging rut. But the wind of the Holy Spirit pushes me on. Pushes me to new experiences. Propels me forward through unwanted change. Prods me to do kindness and patience and loving over and over again. Patiently reminds me to go to the Source of my life – to converse and listen and “be” in the circle of His care and love. Puts me in a place of light and water so I can grow into the Creation He wants me to become.

Buffeted by the Wind – not a bad place to be.

Let’s journey together.

© Denise Budd Rumble 2010

Little Flower Garden

I stayed in the house far too much yesterday. I have something that needs to be done really soon, so I stayed in to work on it. As I began making a late supper I realized I had almost entirely missed a glorious summer’s day. So, I picked up my camera and went outside to enjoy the waning of the day.

Our little flower garden drew me, as it always does. Bobbing heads and colours mingling with the sundry shades of green.

Each flower so different.

Each flower so detailed.

Intricate patterns painted on such a fragile canvas.

Multitudinous petals fashioned to make one little flower head clustering with many others to form a soft carpet of beauty.

Sturdy stalks display familiar orange tiger lilies – familiar, yet far from common.

Bright sunny yellows, sunset orange, fragile white and pink, deep reds and soft lavender – these colours fill my senses.

Such creativity in these few flowers, such diversity of shape and colour and size and design. So lovely. So fleeting.

If God grants such detailing and beauty to a wee flower whose lifespan is measured in days, surely He grants the same to us.

Creativity, beauty, intricate detailing and careful planning have gone into our design.

Some days we may feel like a design run amuck. but we have a Creator who made us with love and cares for us with understanding and compassion. Regardless of how we feel, in His eyes we are precious. We are beautiful.

© 2008 Denise Budd Rumble