I’ve been marveling at a small miracle this week. I bought a Gerbera daisy, but somehow between the store and home I bent the stem of one of the blooms, bent it at a ninety-degree angle. I apologized profusely to the plant, and I assumed the flower on that stem would die within twenty-four hours. To my astonishment and wonder the blossom remains as lovely as ever a week later, with no signs of fading.

Maybe this is some special ability possessed by the stems of Gerbera daisies. Maybe the plant is strengthened by my affectionately cheering her on every day. Maybe it’s one of those miracles of Nature.

In any case, every time I sit at the table and see that valiant stem I feel grateful. And heartened. I suppose it sounds trite, but the stem has given me hope, buoyed my spirits, when I’ve badly needed it this week.

I guess that little flower shows me there is strength hiding out of sight. And if it is my love for her that has mattered, that’s good to know too.

So much life around us now here in summer! Perhaps it’s the unexpected, though, that flings the heart wide open.  Jan L. Richardson describes it well in her poem, For Joy: 

You can prepare

but still

it will come to you

by surprise

 

crossing through your doorway

calling your name in greeting

turning like a child

who quickens suddenly

within you

 

it will astonish you

how wide your heart

will open

in welcome

 

for the joy

that finds you

so ready

and still so

unprepared.

 What small miracles have you marveled at recently? Have you been startled by joy?

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