While living at my old house, I loved the huge mock orange bush in the backyard. It had the most luscious, delicate flowers with such a sweet fragrance that I would sit outside on the patio and sniff until I nearly passed out!
When I sold that house, I took cuttings from most of my flowers, but I couldn’t manage it from the mock orange. I was so sad. That bush meant spring! The promise of summer to come; and the purity of the white blossoms brought thoughts of the promise of eternal life to come.
I made my children and their dates pose for prom pictures before that bush. I knew I would miss it.
When I moved, I asked God to please provide another mock orange bush for me. I thought I might have to buy one, or go out into the wilds to try to find one.
My new house was built and the job of taming the yard came the next year. A hill in the backyard would be left to the wild. For some reason, one just can’t do everything at once. Time and money just don’t cooperate!
However, as I sat on my new porch that next spring, that familiar scent wafted across my unsuspecting nose. I jumped up from my chair and went looking for it. Where was that bush?
I discovered it, nearly hidden, in the wild area of the back yard. Just a few flowers managed to bloom in the tangle of tree/bush limbs and behind tall weeds, but I saw it! Excitement welled up inside as I danced around the yard and acknowledged that my God loves me! He knew how much I would miss that bush and provided one for me in my new yard—it was there even before I knew it! How gracious of Father God. That He gives us gifts to delight our hearts (or eyes and nose, in this case!).
How can we not respond to His love?
That hill is now landscaped and the mock orange is very prominent. This year, it is full of beautiful blooms and my yard smells heavenly.
“Every good gift and every perfect gift I from above, and comes down from the Father of lights,” James 1:17.
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