To read "Dear Me and Other Parents running around trying to get prepared for a great school year" click here-  http://kristiburden.com/?p=6068

Three of my favorite grace blooms

 

 

I have a terrible time growing things.  My plants either wither and die or they explode like my rosebush that spilled its billowy barbs over the driveway and sidewalk looking like the scene from Sleeping Beauty where Prince Phillip is trying to rescue Aurora.

You want to talk about kids?  My best attempts at growing them Godly often fail. I fret over proper parenting.  Despite parenting websites that tell you how many books your kid should read a day and what age you should let your girl start wearing makeup there's no fail-proof way to raise them.  "Raise a child in the way he should go" are words to live by but I go the wrong way.  Constantly.

I water too much; sometimes not enough.

Planned and well-tended to blooms, wither and fade.

The well-meant grows out-of-hand

"Mom! You let me wear eye shadow LAST year. Why is it a problem now?" 

"I always watch this many shows".

It's crazy how things grow here in Southeast Texas. Not so much the things I've planted though.  I planted a Lantana bush.  Here's what's left of it (Ignore the weed in the background). I hate sharing a picture of something so barren.

But strangely a Lantana bush is growing eight yards away by the back door, not planted by human hands.  I can only guess that the wind carried the seed across the yard.  I haven't done a thing to deserve its beautiful pink and rhthymarm orange blooms 

I've decided to call them grace blooms.

There are grace blooms of a different kind in the front yard where the unmanageable rosebush once grew.

Beauty given to me without the asking

like my gregarious child whose free speech made me nervous for the first few years, who has taught me the gift of boldly approaching others who may need encouragement or a friend

by "my stop and smell-the-roses" child who has taught me to slow down and enjoy the ordinary

and by my strong-willed one, who I pray will be better able than I to handle the pressure the world puts forth

I didn't pray for a single one of those characteristics in my children, but I'm thankful.

Beauty springing forth with no effort or goodwill on my part

Like when I stumble upon an opportunity to hang out with my kids and good and meaningful conversations come up like "Is it good to pray for forgiveness for sin that we don't even know we committed?".

Beauty appearing in the unlikeliest of ways

Like the time I was prepared to inspire the inmates at the prison revival with my spirit-filled smile and warm handshake only to be blown away that the spirit beat me there.

or the time that a dying woman showed me that death can come with grace and dignity and peace.

Grace blooms come through an unexpected hug or when a needed message presents itself through a song on the radio. 

Grace blooms remind us:

We shouldn't feel inadequate over our flowering failures.

We can mourn lost flowers and broken dreams if we must, but we will keep our heads up to see other blooms God has placed before us. 

We will appreciate all blooms, no matter how short-lived.

We will give God credit for all that grows.

We will seek out God's grace blooms, which are too many to count by the way. 

We will seek to be a grace bloom as God sees fit.

What grace blooms has God placed in your life?