Flowers in the concrete

(I apologize for deleting some of the previous entries but I discovered they were very much off-topic and not where I want to take this blog. :)  Thanks for understanding!)

My husband's grandparents, with whom I am very close and refer to as my grandparents, have a regular concrete driveway like most people. My grandmother, Granny, loves flowers. One day she noticed that a single flower had taken residence in a random crack in her driveway. Many people would have pulled it up as it "interferes" with the flow of the driveway design or potentially because a plant could make the crack larger. Because it's behind a fence, it is really only noticeable when sitting in the swing that my Granny frequents.

One flower became a handful of flowers. Now it is a thriving colony of very pretty peonies, all which randomly sprung from a crack in the driveway. Granny and I were sitting in the swing and marveling at how the flowers suddenly appeared and seem to thrive in less-than-ideal conditions. We agreed that this might just be a little gift from God,  a little pretty surprise for Granny and Grandad. :)

Recently I've had a spiritual "revival" of sorts. Since we moved here about 2 years ago, I've not gone to church. Part of this is because there is no Episcopal church in the town where I live. The closest ones are both about 25-30 miles away. Because I am still very active with my church in Fort Lauderdale (St. Benedict's Episcopal Church in Plantation, FL), and still visit it once-a-year to do Arts Camp/Vacation Bible School, I just stayed a member there and went to church there when I visited. This past year, I sang several songs for the Saturday evening mass there and just loved every second of fellowship and worship. I really, really missed being in the body of Christ and the moving, beautiful worship that drew me to the Episcopal Church in the first place.  Later this past summer, we went to Key West where I attended Sunday morning mass at the Episcopal church on Duval.

I really, really missed church.  I had my Granny swing by the Episcopal Church in Paragould and had a lovely visit with the Deacon/Soon-to-be-priest there. I've since started attending mass there.

It's interesting that, like the peonies, we can find opportunities to grow and flourish even in the least likely places.  All Saints Episcopal is quite different than St. Benedict's. It is a very small (20-30 people total in the church) and older church. It doesn't have a choir or a music director, or even a full-time priest (but it will as of later this month when Deacon Beebe gets ordained!).  However, it has the same elements that I love about the Episcopal church: the focus on education, the dedication to serving others, the beautiful service, the open minds and hearts, and the freedom within Christ.  I know when we moved up here that I didn't expect to find much opportunity. I didn't expect to grow- in fact, I expected the opposite: I felt that moving here would be a stagnation for me.  In my eternal optimism, however, I didn't pick the flower from the crack so to speak. I finally gave this area a chance. Like the peonies, I find myself flourishing and growing in a place I didn't expect.