The Annual Tulip Post

"Life can be challenging even for a tulip."

In 2009 I thought she would die. Stunted by abuse, she struggled to bloom. Although she did her best to put on a happy face, something was desperately wrong. She'd been kicked around and stepped on for too long. Without intervention she would shrivel up and die. I worried it might already be too late and lamented my own procrastination.

One spring morning, May 1, 2009, I took a small shovel and did the only thing that would save her. I dug her up and moved her to a new locale. She needed a new home where she could rest and recover, safe from the feet of children and the dog who liked to lay in the morning sunshine directly over her position.

The following year I didn't see her at all. As far as I know she didn't leaf out or bloom. I feared my efforts had been too little, too late, but deep in the ground where I couldn't see, a healing and transformation was taking place. She was making a miraculous recovery. Last year I wrote, "If God cares so much for flowers, He must love me too. The tulip I feared might never recover is beautiful again! Perhaps there is hope for me too. :)"

I'm still gleaning life lessons from the Teaching Tulip. Deep inside God is transforming me too. Progress might be slow and appear nonexistent, but God is at work. Who would have thought a small and delicate flower could teach me such valuable lessons?