~and the Maker is patient~

I thought the hailstorm of over 3 weeks back had ruined most of the garden and flowers here at our home along the Red River.  6 weeks of laboring to make the backyard beautiful had seemingly been erased during a 30-minute barrage of ice slamming from Mother Nature.  I was back home  in Kansas at the time the storm hit, and Mike called me to say what was happening.  He wanted to know if he should send a picture, and with a sinking feeling in my heart I replied.

"No.  Don't send one."
There was nothing I could do from over 350 miles away except fret and the truth was there was nothing Mike could do either.  The damage was already done.

I immediately set about surveying the mess of it all as soon as I got home the next day.  Nothing went untouched and I recall going through a gamut of emotions during the 10-minute time it took for me to see it all.  At first I was shocked and then overwhelmingly sad at the loss.  For a moment or two,  I was angry (like that would do any good).  Finally, and most wonderfully, a sense of determination to make it all look nice once again set in.  With new plants and seeds in hand, I worked for the next week to try to repair the mayhem from that which we have no control over in the first place.

~Mother Nature~

Some of the plants, like my cannas and sunflowers took the worst of the beating.  I didn't know what to do with them.  Once I thought that maybe I should just mow them off and forget about them.  Instead, I chose to let them remain and hoped that maybe somehow they would manage to come out of it.  3 weeks later that is just what they did.

 I loved the brilliant colors of the yellows and greens.  I believe they are even more beautiful after having been witnesses to a summer time storm than they would have been left untouched to grow on their own.

I guess flowers going through a hailstorm could be compared to all the times that I've been lain upon God's mighty anvil.  There have been numerous occasions during my nearly 63 years of living when I've had to go through the painful refining process to transform me into the person that I was destined to be all along.  It doesn't feel real good and at times has been downright painful to endure.  Although I have no leaves or pretty flowers to be sliced off at the heart by the sheer force of wind driven ice, I've had dreams and hopes cruelly dashed by turns of events and the actions of others that made me wonder, 

"Why?  Why me?"

Now as I have grown much older, I already know the answer to that life question.  I was lain upon that mighty anvil by God because it had to be that way.  I would not have wanted to be the same person that I was then.  There was so much more room to grow, and paths to be taken that would be quite different but would provide me with far greater and richer experiences to become a part of.  My hope at the end of my life would be that I became the person who I was intended to be all along.  

One thing for sure is this.
I'm thankful that my Maker is very patient.

These sunflowers grew just down the road from our old house here in town.  I saw them one morning back in 2015 when Mike and I were out for our early morning walk.  They reminded me of Kansas and all my friends and family back there.