Staatenlos

In my darkest of days, my pastor would remind me to “seek out the roses in the desert.” There were days I thought I’d faint and shrivel up looking for them and was convince I’d settle for the scent of the rose. I’ve become more adept at finding them over the years but there have been occasions when the sandstorms were pretty high and I couldn’t see at all for the stinging stones that filled my eyes.

Recently, I reported to him that at that particular moment, there were so many roses that  there was almost no visible sand. Full of joy, and riding high, I was blindsided again by Murphy’s Law and an apparent force relentlessly stirring up storms and raising sand. I was in the midst of a spiraling downward, confidence somewhat broken when I popped in the video that came yesterday.

My sister was asking her grandchildren (whom I also had never met) what they’d like to say to Aunt Rose when one of them broke into a chorus chanting “I love Aunt Rose.” Next she asked them what it was that they loved about Aunt Rose. They wrestled to come up with answers that would describe their feelings and   some of the responses were, “she’s nice”, “she sings to us on the telephone”, “she makes grandma smile.” The one that moved me most was the wee one that said “because she loves God.”

As I looked into the children’s cake smudged faces,  I recognized I’d been blessed with the most beautiful bouquet!