PATHWAY TO HIS PRESENCE
B.J. FUNK
Today, on my 28
th day of voluntary self-quarantining (not sick… just doing as we’ve been asked), I ventured outside to go to the drive-through at the bank. As I drove out of my yard, I noticed the beginning buds on my Crepe Myrtle trees that line both sides of my long driveway. My son, Shawn, pruned them in the winter, and for all of these months, they have looked like a sad bunch of limbs sticking out of the ground.
Not so today. New life called to me, “Drive slowly. Watch God’s plan unfolding.”
And so, I did. Also, for these last several days, I have enjoyed the beauty of an azalea bush outside my front bedroom window. From my desk where I write, I had a large daily splash of color smiling through my window. Now, those flowers have said good bye until next spring, but the crepe myrtles should be robust and lovely by midsummer.
I took my time. Often my schedule is run through the bank, stop for gas, get to the post pffice before it closes, run through CVS, go to the grocery store, and then go home. But today all I had to do was to take my time.
I called my good friend, Vicki, from the bank parking lot. “You home? Since we don’t get to see too many humans, how about a yard visit? I will pull up to the front of your home, and if you can come out into the yard, we can see each other and also practice social distancing.”
She was in.
What joy to have a few minutes to talk with a friend. I see pictures of people all day long on my computer and on TV. But there is nothing that compares with an honest-to-goodness person standing in the yard talking to me. I felt refreshed.
When I arrived home, I saw that the beautiful knock-out roses had come back to life. After sleeping all winter, they stretched and woke up, their lovely roses bringing color to the front of my home. Ignoring the quarantine, my roses are blooming in spite of what is going on in this world. There are just some things the coronavirus can’t take away.
What amazing gifts our yard flowers are. No one says to them, “Okay, it’s time for you to bloom!” They just know when it is their time to wake up, open up, and bring color into our days.
All of my yard is calling to me, “Drive slowly. Watch God’s plan unfolding.”
I do not believe God sent this coronavirus to our world, but I do believe God has a message for us through the spring flowers as well as a message through coronavirus. It’s the same message.
“Drive slowly and watch God’s plan unfolding.”
The Rev. B.J. Funk is associate pastor of Central UMC in Fitzgerald. Email her at bjfunk@bellsouth.net.
