Flowers in God's Garden

Today Callie Jayne is 20 months old. How thankful we are that she is here with us to mark this sweet milestone! Today she spent some time with her brothers and sisters, whom Callie was very excited to see, according to Dana's blog. When they left her hospital room, Callie waved her arms wildly as if saying good-bye!

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This picture taken today shows how far Callie has come, this miracle baby of ours. We continue to pray for her recovery, and invite you to join with us still. In particular our prayers are focusing on the healing of her brain stem at this time. How wonderful it will be when she can open her eyes again!

Between soccer practices and games, Scouting events, church meetings, school and club activities, and other motherly ferrying duties, I spend a lot of time driving around our community. During the past two weeks I've had plenty of time while driving to ponder Callie's accident and the ripples it has sent out into the world. So many of us have been touched in so many ways.

We've been strengthened by Jeff and Dana's faith as they faced every parent's worst nightmare with trust in Heavenly Father. As my sister-in-law Lori said, "Their love for their child and God will bring them peace, no matter what."

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We've pulled our own little ones closer with a prayer of gratitude that they are safely tucked into their own beds each night.
We have learned patience, seen our prayers answered, and felt Callie's strong, sweet spirit reach out to those around her, even from afar.

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I have learned something more, something I needed to understand about the relationship of our Heavenly Father with His children here on earth.

Callie is the youngest of her parents' 13 children. She is the last of my parents' 35 grandchildren. There are some folks who'd say no one needs that many kids. Yet is Callie any less precious to her parents, her siblings, her grandparents, her aunts and uncles and cousins, simply because we've been blessed with an abundance of children?

These past few weeks I've noticed millions of little yellow flowers blanketing the fields and meadows of our mountain communities. Everywhere I look, these tiny flowers are brightening the view. I took these pictures one day while running errands just before dusk, filming meadows from Show Low to Pinetop, over a distance of more than 10 miles. (For a better view of the flowers, click on the pictures.)

No matter how many fields of these flowers I pass, I love to see them. Not once have I thought, "I wish this field had no flowers. There are just too many!" Every meadow is more beautiful because they are there.

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That made me think of how precious each of our children are to us, regardless of how many we have. I treasure each of my nieces and nephews as I do my own children. Each one brightens the landscape of my life!

These thoughts, in turn, made me understand how God sees us, the flowers in His garden. I often struggle with feelings of insignificance, but I begin to grasp how precious each of us is in His sight. He lovingly tends to us, just as a gardener tends his flowers, just as Callie's parents and doctors are tending her. Sometimes painful pruning or difficult treatments are necessary to our growth, but we are none of us beneath his notice.
Did you see the rainbow breaking through the clouds in the picture above? This symbol of our Heavenly Father's love reminds us that after the trial of our faith He will always bless us with something beautiful and worthwhile.

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For Callie and her family, I hope the clouds part each day to let a rainbow of miracles shine down on our sweet girl, until the day she is able to return home to her family.

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And I wish rainbows for each of you in the midst of your trials, as well. May God bless you all!