Be Resilient Like Nature

Life can be hard on a good day, but it is those trying days that give us strength. Sometimes God shows us proof of His loving resilience for us through nature. Those who read my blog, know that I have a thing for sunflowers. This was my sunflower from last year.

At one point it had over 50 blooms. But this year I have not been as lucky as we have had some crazy wind storms. My one tall sunflower was growing at about five feet tall when wind broke in half. But ‘Patience’, my one resilient sunflower now has 3 buds. I named it Patience because it is proof of the resilience of nature as it lifts its face to the heavens for the sun and like all flowers do, to show off their beauty to God. Here you can see how the storm knocked Patience to the ground but she refused to stay down.

Her stem is bent and shows scar tissue but still she grows

In 2 Corinthians 12:9-11, Paul reminds us that in our weakness we can be strong as long as we lean on Christ,

⁹But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Another example of weakness takes on a little different turn. One of the storms this week took down a huge oak tree by our church. While studying the trunk as they finished cutting it down, I saw that the tree was weak on the inside with disease and carpenter ants.

Look how the tree tried to curl it’s trunk around its disease and continue to grow. The trunk’s hole, if you look at it just right, looks like a heart.

I plant to fill that hole with dirt and plant some thrift in it to cascade over the edge of the trunk still showing the beauty of the tree.

While our lives may be hard, somewhere in all that trial, God still sees beauty, even if we don’t. So, don’t give up when it gets hard, but reach for God’s hand and let him show you your beauty in weakness.

And as always, remember to be kind, it shows your inner beauty.

The Storms of Summer

I think everywhere in the world understand the storms of summer can be rough but here in the US summer storms bring severe thunderstorms, derecho winds, tornadoes and of course downpours.

While the rain is being enjoyed by our community garden, the wind has not been our friend. Early morning storms today played havoc for a decades old oak tree by our church.

You can see the top portion of this beautiful tree was broken off like a match stick.

The clouds, since daybreak, have been ominous as they pounded us with water.

But the flowers still prove that they can survive, maybe even thrive as long as the winds stay clear of their tender stems.

And as the clouds begin to dissipate, George, the neighborhood Red Tail Hawk, calls out to remind us that all is well and to always trust in the creator of all things to create beauty after a storm, regardless of where the storm that may be happening.

I close with a reminder to be kind especially in the midst of a storm. It will make the storm more bearable.

Playing in the Dirt

Now that I am of a ‘certain age’ the idea of a large yard is highly overrated. Who wants to cut all that grass. While I am not fond of the noisy teenagers in close proximity, I do enjoy being to pant lots of flowers in all of my yard. Last year I planted some perennials along my fence which makes less work along the fence line.

I am especially fond of the golden yarrow. I know that it can take over, but right now, I see no issue with that. Less work for beautiful flowers.

I thought I would send out to other flower enthusiast, the colors in my yard.

Petunia are always fun with so many different color options plus they can handle warmer weather. Perineal flowers are always a fun option to see if they can survive the interesting winters here in Iowa. I got a new one this year, an Ice Plant. We will see it I can keep it alive.

Other long standing perennials that are still surviving are Coreopsis, Balloon Flower and Bee Balm.

A little later in the summer, I will start putting out the mums. I love the colors of mums in the fall. That is pretty much the gist of my small yard, hope you enjoyed. Have a great summer and always remember to be kind.

Finding Calm

We all find ways to soothe the bombardment of life as it seems to run over us at times. For me, I write it all down. Some of it makes sense, some never does but writing combined with my love of nature and dogs helps me continue to go forward.

I am currently working on book 2 of Smiles from Heaven, independently published with Kindle of Amazon. It is a compilation of short stories and poetry that I hope help brings smiles to the reader. I now the stories helped me as I wrote them, sometimes laughing at my own thoughts sometimes crying at the reality of the hurt. I thought I would periodically publish one here to see what those who read my blog think. I do not profess to fully understand poetry, I am just writing my thoughts hoping to relate to others. Hope you enjoy.

Peace in Wildlife

The water from the fall mixed with her tears

Rolling down her face, joining her fears

The niche in the rock behind the fall

Made a hiding place behind a water wall

Coming here often to process and think

Analyzing her life when it would stink

The noise of the fall soothed her pain

Blocking out voices calling her name

By the fall’s edge, where the water is calm

Flowers grow wild as a soothing balm

Reminding us through difficulties in life

Peace and joy can be found in wildlife.

G. A. Neal

I sincerely hope you can find away to find that peace you need to survive this world and may you always remember some of it can be found in being kind. Kindness has a way of turning negatives into positives.

It’s Lily Time

While my daylilies have not opened yet, my other lilies have and I thought I would send those out into the blog world. Maybe Cee will see them from Rehab and they will help her smile.

We have to start with the classic white Easter lily. It remained beautiful through most of May but has now been planted to hopefully come back next year.

My favorite lily was planted two years ago by accident. I had the flower pot in the yard to plant, promptly forgot about it, but the dog turned it over for me and it grew. I covered it good last year and was rewarded this year with three stalks about 3 feet tall and multiple blooms on each stalk.

This rich maroon red lily was planted three years ago and this year had three separate stalks as well. This is a much shorter plant but still as beautiful.

This next lily warms my heart, not because of the lily but because of what it means. If you have read any of my stories or books, then you know how important my dogs are to me. This lily was placed where I put the ashes for Mimi, when I lost her four years ago. So I call this flower Mimi’s Lily. Its petals are ruffled and tinged with red.

Now that the community garden is growing well, I will start sharing the many flowers I have in my yard. For such a small yard, it is quite colorful. And as always, I remind you of the power and beauty of kindness. It is such a powerful tool, that even animals understand its purpose.

Always Be Kind!!

Community Garden

I have been absent from my blog for a couple of months because I have been super busy with the Community Garden that our church sponsors. Our church is one of a group of churches that come together to help the neighborhoods around us with food insecurities. And this year was a total redo because we moved the garden to make room for a community playground. So 10 raised beds and 8 round container beds had to be refilled before planting…lots of work. Fortunately we have some amazing help in getting the garden started.

Here are a few pictures to show you how well the garden is doing this early in the season. The first picture is an overview of the garden layout.

You can see the edge of the playground on the right side of the picture where the garden used to be. We moved it about 50 feet and rotated it 90 degrees.

This picture is of the lower raised beds on the right-hand side of the garden. These four beds have our 13 tomatoes and onions scatter around them. They make good companion plants.

Two of the raised beds on the left-hand side have potatoes – one bed is red potatoes and one is white potatoes. The two beds further down are the green beans and the petite lima beans. They are not doing great because Robins evidently like beans too. But what has survived is flowering and producing. I planted more beans this morning.

Our cucumbers, squash, and bell pepper are planted in round containers in the center between the high-rise planters. Only one of the high-rise planters is filled and those are our sweet potatoes. We have help coming next week to fill the remaining three high-rise planters and will have to figure out what to plant there.

My fun plantings are also in the center of the garden – sunflowers, watermelons, and pumpkin.

So now we water and wait to see what all we grow. Last year was good and we expect even better this year. I will keep you posted as thins grow – especially the sunflowers.

Enjoy your summer, or if you on the bottom of the world, buckle in for winter. And as always, remember to grow kindness. It the best possible thing you could ever grow.