SMELL THE FLOWERS

Earlier this summer my wife took it upon herself to fill our planters with flowers. Typically, this is something we do together, together in the sense that she picks out the flowers and I plant them.  However, this year I was busy with work and other home improvement projects.

So, on a Saturday morning while I was working on our retaining wall she went to the garden center and loaded up on flowers. When she arrived back home, she gathered the necessary tools and off she went. Later that day while

walking back up to the house I noticed she had all the planters filled with a variety of beautiful flowers. There was pink, red, yellow, and of course purple…her favorite color. I complimented her on a job well done, and her reply was, “I probably put too many in each planter.” As the summer went on, she gave them the necessary care they needed, and they were flourishing. On the 4^th of July, we had family over for a BBQ.  Her aunt commented how nice the flowers looked, and again her reply was, “I probably put too many in each planter.” “As long as they get plenty of water, they’ll be fine,” her aunt replied. Recently, my wife had a friend water the flowers while we were away on vacation. When my wife contacted her friend when we got home to thank her for the help, she also commented on how nice the flowers looked. It was finally sinking in that she did a good job with the flowers.

Sometimes we can be so critical of ourselves that we forget to stop and admire the beauty of our work and smell the flowers.

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.