When Life is Tough, Plant Flowers

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” Romans 15:13

What do you do when you feel stuck in a difficult situation?

How do you find hope to carry on?

One difficulty after another kept coming my way until I felt overwhelmed. I lost my job and therefore my income. If only our house would sell then I’d have money for rent and groceries. It had been on the market for months and nobody seemed interested.

During one particularly dismal morning, I stopped in at my mother’s house for coffee. A visit in my mother’s home usually ended in her flower garden. She’d point out new blossoms on her rose bushes and every bit of new growth excited her. I always enjoyed this ritual, but on this afternoon I listened only half-heartedly to my mother’s cheerful chatter. I didn’t want to burden her with my problems. She’d probably tell me, “We do not give in to self-pity.”

As my gaze followed her small frame, darting in and out of rose bushes, I thought, Mother, you had reason to feel sorry for yourself. Why didn’t you? After seven years of marriage, she’d lost her husband in the Second World War. She’d fled across Europe with four small children, living in refugee camps, thankful for a piece of bread and a glass of milk. As an immigrant to Canada the struggle for survival had continued. People had sometimes disappointed her. Yet, she’d managed to keep a sweet spirit. Her consistently upbeat attitude amazed me. Didn’t she ever feel weak?

Suddenly my mother stopped her chatter. She gazed into my face and whispered, “How’s it going?”

“Not good,” I whispered back.

For a few moments she stared into a rose bush as though searching for something to say.

“When life was tough I planted flowers,” she said quietly. “They always bloomed for me.”

Then there’s something I can do to improve my life, I thought. Yes! After all, I serve a God of hope not despair. So while waiting for things to happen in a big way, I can tend to my flowers, I can bake cookies, I can invite someone to tea. I can spread hope and good cheer. Like my mother just did.

by Helen Grace Lescheid
used by permission

Further Reading

How Do You Cope with Change? – by Fab Batsakis

When Things are Tough – by Phil Ware

Will the Rope Hold? – by Mike Woodard

The post When Life is Tough, Plant Flowers can be found online at Daily Thoughts about God.