April Showers Bring May Flowers

This is our backyard ...
Vicky and I have been greatly blessed to live in an area where moisture is in abundance. And with that abundance comes lots of green. And most things that are green also have flowers.
In this blog post are pictures of flowers in our yard. Not all of them are posted here and not all of them are ready to bloom. Most of these flowers were planted by others and are being enjoyed by us. And hopefully the flowers we have added to the yard will be enjoyed by others to come.
Recently I celebrated another birthday. One of my gifts (pictured below) was a wildflower book. I am not sure how I got so lucky to receive such a great gift, but I did. The gift actually came as a surprise, but a good surprise. Previous to my most recent birthday I was on a hike with my boy scouts in the woods. As I hiked up this steep trail with my ever-getting-heavier backpack I kept noticing a beautiful white flower (unfortunately I have not included a picture in this post). I stopped to take a closer look. While enjoying the simple detail of this flower and wondering what it's name was, from behind me one very intelligent 12 yr old scout said, "That's Trillium." I right then and there wanted a wildflower book. Two weeks later my wish came true. And yes Trillium, or Western Wake Robin, is in the book.
For as long as I can remember there has always been a fascination of flowers inside of me. When I was young my parents always planted a wide variety of flowers. In addition to our vegetable gardens we always had flower gardens throughout the yard. Each year additional flowers were grown, some more exotic and tropical, others more plain and traditional. But each flower had it's own beauty.
As a boy scout, my father was the scout master. So guess what we learned about while hiking in the mountains of Washington and Utah? That's right, flowers. There were all shapes, sizes, species, and colors of flowers pointed out. Some bloomed yearly, others multiple times each year, and others once every seven years.
So maybe there is something in my genes which is drawn to these delicate creations. Maybe I'm a softee and not as manly as others may think I am. Maybe I am odd because I love to buy Vicky flowers not just because I know she will like them. But rather I too really like them and enjoy finding new colorful species to share with her.
Or maybe there really is something more to these beautiful and often unique plants which blossoms inside of me. Some power which speaks to my heart. A power which entertains my mind. A power which draws me to a greater appreciation of One who loves me more than we could imagine. The One who each day helps me to blossom as I allow myself to be nourished by Him.

How beautiful it is to flower.