A Gentle Reminder Part 2

Last week I shared how God used a daffodil to gently remind me how useless it was to worry. But that wasn’t the only lesson He wanted to teach me.

I’ve owned a Christmas cactus for many years. Somehow – even when every other plant I owned died from neglect – this one stayed alive.

My Grandma had a very large and beautiful Christmas cactus. I remember how excited she was when she could get it to bloom! She followed some special instructions that I could never remember – something about putting the plant in a cold dark place for a certain amount of time before bringing it into the warmth.

It was all very confusing to me, so I never worried about it. There were so many other things to think about it – like how to feed and cloth five children who were growing like weeds.

I was just happy that the plant was still alive.

Then – just the other day – I saw this.

My Christmas cactus had buds!

I had done nothing to encourage it to bloom. I didn’t put it in the dark or cold – and the poor thing was covered in dust!

Most of the time I either forgot to water it and when I did remember – I gave it too much.

I didn’t deserve those blooms. But God gave them to me anyway.

What a beautiful picture of grace.

An unmerited favor. A blessing.

Those two beautiful blossoms  reminded me once again how very blessed I am.

I  had been spending so much time worrying, complaining and fretting over things that I wanted or situations that I felt needed to change, that I was missing the grace that was all around me.

And God blessed me with two breathtakingly beautiful, quite undeserved flowers to bring things back into perspective.

How about you?

Proverbs 28:20 “A faithful man shall abound with blessings…”

Can you see them?