The Days Just Before Summer
When the sun rises on another day, I find my heart welcoming its beginning. This time of year, in the days just before Summer, the fragrance of these pink and purple flowers of the wild reaches me as I walk around outside watering my flowers and our very small vegetable garden of tomatoes, yellow squash, and cucumbers. I savor the early mornings of hearing the morning doves and the fragrance I smell. My hot coffee on the swing makes me feel like I need to be here every morning for my waking up time. Early morning refreshment for a new day.
The walk along the edge
In walking along the edge of the border of our picturesque two acres, I find these beautiful flowers almost at eye view; their beauty and fragrance reaches me. I reach out today to touch their stems, holding them still for a close up picture. Any amout of gentle breeze will set them to moving. They have spread so much this past year, growing closer and closer up the edge of our property towards the front of it.
After awhile I kept walking all the way to the river, past the apple tree we planted, the three pine trees of different sizes, and over the ditch where the water that gathers when it rains, flows to the river. As I enter the haven of rest by the river I cannot help but notice the huge tree that stands tall in the middle with its branches overhanging and providing the majority of the shade here by the river. The beauty of the river is noticed as I capture the purple with the water behind it. In noticing it, I am grateful for how it is growing here in this place at the water’s edge.
Just before summer
These days just before the official start of summer are days of fragrance to remember long after their fragrance is gone and after their petals have dropped within the blades of grass growing at my feet. I am surrounded here. I am blessed here. I feel protected here.
Memories flood my mind as I walk here. Memories of having picnics with my son when he was a little boy. Memories of pitching a tent here on warm summer nights. Memories of years of having campfires by the edge of the river while the sun was setting. Captured memories that take up space in treasured spots in my heart.
My shelter
I think about what stands tall in the middle of my life, just like the tree here, that shapes my perspective in the middle of difficult days and filters the images of heartache I see on the screens of life. My faith in God stands tall and towers over the burning places I see where heartache reigns on this earth. I find refuge in His shelter. Psalm 91:1 NLT says, “Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare of the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; He is my God, and I am trusting Him.”
I find that as I walk through fragrant places, I see God at work in nature, and it makes me think of how He is at work in my life and the places I walk through. I need these times of refreshing. I need these times of reflection. I need these times where He reaches through fragrant flowers, flowing water, and tall blades of grass to show me more of who He is.
Glimpses of summer ahead
These fragrant flowers will not last long. As they lose their petals, I will have to wait until next year to smell their fragrance again waft through the spring air.
I will remember this year, in the days just before summer, when I started writing on this, my first blog. I hope and pray that this place is a fragrant one for you, my reader. A place where you can come for hope and refreshment. A place where you deepen your relationship with God. A place where you find rest from the weariness that burns within. A place where you can ask Him questions from your heart as you walk here among word pictures and glimpses from His Word to your heart. ?
