All my memories of my love affair with flowers have something to do with Father God (for all flowers are from God. There are no flowers in hell).
When Shannon and I were living in North Carolina we rented a little farm house on the edge of town. It had four rooms, a bathroom and a utility closet. It was perfect for me, Shannon and our baby Ryan. When living there Shannon was out of the country much of the time so it was just me and Ryan. We'd take a lot of walks. Down the road was a man with two mules. I'd put Ryan in the stroller and we'd go say hi to the mules. And then we'd walk around the block over and over. I got pretty depressed. At the time I wasn't good at befriending women, and I had no family around. I went to church but as I said I really wasn't good at making friends. The winters in NC aren't like northern winters, but they still get cold, a wet cold. That added to it all of course. When I looked at some bushes outside our house through my depression all I saw were big, ugly, round bushes. . I wanted to cut them down, but of course I couldn't do that. One morning when spring had arrived I walked outside and on these ugly bushes were the biggest red flowers I'd ever seen. They were beautiful. I don't know what they were. They are flowers that grow only down south. But in that moment I felt like they were huge bouquets of flowers given to me by Jesus. I cried.
Every spring (except for in 2013) I feel this way when the lilacs bloom. Where we live I usually have to wait till the end of May, even sometimes as late as June 1 to get fully-bloomed lilacs. This year has been different. They are already beginning to bloom around my house. They are one of my most absolute favorite flowers -- the color and that divine scent!
Then there's that cliche, "Stop and smell the roses."
There's a lot of truth in that cliche. If we don't have time to notice the beauty God surrounds us with with flowers and birdsong and gentle breezes and sunshine and gentle rain falling straight down and that smell after the rain -- if we don't have time to notice all that and breathe it in, we're too busy. We're missing life. We're not understanding what matters.
Okay, I might as well share with you my crazy, ridiculous writing project I'md doing. It is impossible. It is improbable that anything will EVER come of it. I know that. But I have to do it. The characters won't leave my head until the rest of their story gets down on paper. See, I'm writing a movie script. It's based on a few characters by the names of T'Pol, Trip, Elizabeth and Dr. Phlox. If I don't write it down they will keep bothering me. I promise - - this isn't a pyschotic breakdown. In fact, it might be an answer to prayer.
Years ago I read an interview with J.K. Rowling (author of the Harry Potter Books). The interviewer was asking her how she knew what to write. She said something like this, "Harry just walked into my head and I wrote his story down."
I prayed for something like that to happen to me. I guess what I'm experiencing with the characters I listed above is the answer to that prayer. Will my script ever be made into a movie? I don't know. Will my script ever even be read by someone who could make it into a movie? I don't know.
All I know is that I need to write it. So I am.
As I mentioned it's my 49th birthday and God even blessed me with an impromtu party of sorts. A dear friend came by with some donuts. Then another dear friend showed up with a new friend. It was nice. And it is not yet even noon. What a delightful God we serve.
Notice the beauty rather than the ugly today in everything and in everyone.
Thanks for reading.