Back in November, Faith Cora and I sowed a small meadow with 12 lbs of Texas wildflower seeds; and then—every time Lowe’s discounted the distinctive blue packages spangled with riots of color—we sowed some more. I lost count, but think we sowed in the neighborhood of 75 lbs.

 

I was ecstatic a few weeks ago when the very first periwinkle blue-shaded bloom appeared; and immediately sent Faith Cora a picture and text message via her mommy’s phone. Now, every time she visits, we explore the meadow she has named Flutter-butter’s Wildflower Surprise Garden. We find new treasures almost every single time—and the best secret to our finding is our hunting.

 

Flutter-butter’s a character in one of the story lines for a book she and I are writing; and Aunt Jessie is our illustrator. Flutter-butter has many adventures with Mr. Ladybug, a little orange-brother-butterfly named Chair Leaf, some awfully naughty baby crows, and Salt & Pepper—the squirrels who race along the fence through the honeysuckle vines. They live in the Woods of Many Colors across the river from Mr. Somebody’s Very Quiet Forest.

 

Faith Cora is quick to insert her ideas and re-direct me in the story plots and lines as I tell them. Sometimes she ends up with a starring role in the adventure; and when she bursts into giggles at particular parts, I know we’ve hit upon a treasure.

 

I’m so grateful that abundant life is permeated with treasures; and I smile to know that God, my Father, knows all about that. Over 2000 years ago, his Son sent me a key to keeping my treasures safe for all eternity:

 

 

 

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,

 

where moth and rust destroy

 

and where thieves break in and steal,

 

but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,

 

where neither moth nor rust destroys

 

and where thieves do not break in and steal.

 

For where your treasure is,

 

there your heart will be also.

 

Matthew 6:19-21

 

Because…

 

 

“No eye has seen,

 

no ear has heard,

 

and no mind has imagined

 

what God has prepared for those who love him.”

 

1 Corinthians 2:9

 

 

 

I’ve been pondering. Have I already survived the worst I’ll ever have to face; and/or, is it possible to choose to live as if the worst is now in the past?

 

This is a fallen world; no doubt about it. Bad things have happened, are happening, and will continue to happen.

 

Someone told me last week that the hardest thing she learned, following her first husband’s early death in a freak-accident, was that it didn’t make her immune from other bad things happening.

 

If there’s an upside to being blindsided, it has been experiencing firsthand that, while grief is undeniably awful; God is always with me and always takes care of me. Always.

 

Sometimes bad things happen as a result of my bad choices, but sometimes they don’t. And then sometimes, bad things happen even when I’ve made good choices. Those times are harder to sort through.

 

As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples,

 

“Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.”  

 

So they took Jesus in the boat and started out,

 

leaving the crowds behind

 

(although other boats followed).

 

But soon a fierce storm came up.

 

High waves were breaking into the boat,

 

and it began to fill with water.

 

Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat

 

with his head on a cushion.

 

The disciples woke him up, shouting,

 

“Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”

 

When Jesus woke up,

 

he rebuked the wind and said to the waves,

 

“Silence! Be still!”

 

Suddenly the wind stopped,

 

and there was a great calm.

 

Then he asked them,

 

“Why are you afraid?

 

Do you still have no faith?”

Mark 4:35-40

 

If the fierce storm had roared in to punish them for some defiant disobedience, it would seem fairer; but they were right where they were supposed to be and doing exactly what Jesus had told them to do.

 

Jesus response: “Do you still have no faith” makes me think he’s comparing two different times: life before they knew him and life after. He was God immortal in their midst—doing miracles right and left—a defining pivotal point in their lives. He. Was. The. Point.  And the worst they could ever face—the life when they didn’t know him—was behind them.

 

Praise be to God, I know the very same Jesus.

 

 

I have told you all this

 

so that you may have peace in me.

 

Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.

 

But take heart,

 

because I have overcome the world.”

John 16:33

 

I hear God better in the early morning hours so I usually get up whenever I awaken. The other morning found me in the kitchen at 4:30—early even by my own standards—brewing a latte. It feeds my spirit and soul to hold the warmth of the coffee and breathe in the word of God before anything else from the coming day distracts me.

 

Criss-cross is one of my favorite concepts; and God uses it like a yellow highlighter showing me important stuff. By 6:30 that particular morning, I’d completed a number of things: read my Bible; wrote notes to God; emailed, blogged and posted my daily Scripture on the Go; scanned through my Facebook feed and read a devotional; read an email devotional; and read the prior day’s entry in “Streams in the Desert”.

 

The first criss of the morning told me that Jeremiah 29:11 doesn’t mean what most people think: that suffering will soon end and then be replaced by flourishing. Instead, it told me that the heart of the verse isn’t about escaping my situation, but rather about learning to thrive in the middle of it.

 

Just to know—there’s no way to suspect anything’s going to be highlighted until you receive the second criss—and it crosses with the first—and forms the criss-cross.

 

That particular morning had a second criss; and it said that God has a purpose for all the seasons of my life—the lonely ones, the sad ones, the successful ones, the waiting ones and the grieving one. It told me that he’s working for my good in all those times; and then it said a hard, but very good immovable thing—that nothing comes into my life that hasn’t been filtered through him first. He’s never been surprised—so don’t even ever think you’ve done anything bad enough to accomplish that.

 

It’s uncommon for me to receive a third criss—which practically forms an asterisk—and particularly uncommon before 6:30 am, but I did.

 

This one said that I’m to honor the Lord in the trial; and then said the really hard part: that I’m to believe that God will raise something out of the fire that’s more worthy of praise than had I never experienced it.

 

To be perfectly honest, there’ve been things in my life that I never would have chosen—regardless, I suppose, of the growth and maturity that have come from them. But that’s different from being angry with God for what has come; and it’s possible to be triumphant in what I’ve not chosen.

 

The Lord had my attention—three crisses before 6:30 am will accomplish that; but later that same morning I actually started laughing and talking aloud to myself when he sent a fourth one at 11:00 am. (I looked at the clock to note the time)

 

I was driving alone in my car, and listening to an audio sermon, when I heard words saying God’s character always forms a knowing and loving wall around me; and nothing can reach me—nothing can get through that wisdom or love that he hasn’t first filtered through his omniscience.

 

And the asterisk just exploded into a star.

 

For I know the plans I have for you,”

 

says the LORD.

 

“They are plans for good and not for disaster,

 

to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

 

And we know that God

 

causes everything to work together

 

for the good of those who love God

 

and are called according to his purpose for them.

Romans 8:28

(plain old brown leaf floating down a muddy stream,

BUT it caught the light just right)