Today I was in one of those antiquities shops that sells all manner of plaques for every room of the house. Like, "flush the toilet so you don't kill the cat". I consider myself a lover of words, but I don't want them engraved on cheap signs in every room of my house.
One in particular caught my attention today: My wife is not fragile like a delicate flower, she is fragile like a bomb. At first I thought, "Well crap!" I hate it but that is just too true of me. But, in the super special way we wives have of explaining why we are the way we are, I explained to myself (in my head, where I always agree with myself), "You know what? You are STRONG. You don't just flop over at every gust of wind!"
I think I am like this pansy. I named her Forza. In Italian it means Strength. It's lovely (I tell myself). It's colorful. It looks delicate. But this crazy-strong pansy managed to push her lovely face through concrete and sand and bricks to say hello to an otherwise un-colorful front porch.
Obstacles? So what. Physical limitations? Big deal. A hand surgeon who can't believe I can still play at all? Who says he knows everything?
The Spirit of the Living God lives within me and He wrote all the days of my life in His book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:16). His plan for my life, and for your life, includes obstacles. Sometimes the obstacle can seem like I'm underneath brick and mortar. And then the Lord, in His sweet way, brings this little pansy to my porch.
I love what I do and will keep doing it for as long as God allows. And my heart and spirit can rest because I know the Lord knows what is ahead on the path and He had it figured out before I was born.
I always told my kids to keep their head up when they are walking. But sometimes when you look down, you just may see something surprising.
