Surprise!

 

There are surprises that aren't so good. Like the huge spider that was in the kitchen sink when I went to get a drink of water last night.

But surprises can be great, too, like the year I turned 49 and Randy treated it like a big birthday. He invited our families to eat out and then go "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" at Music Theatre of Wichita. I didn't know anything about it until we got to the restaurant.

Another one of those good surprises? I found the photos from Lincoln, Nebraska, that I thought were deleted from my camera's memory card. The photo I took of Kinley on our brief stop in Topeka looks like she was dressed for a surprise party, doesn't it? (My Great Aunt Opal sent the birthday hat and some beads from a birthday party at Leisure Homestead. Our little princess loved the crown and the bling.)

The gazebo at the Sunken Gardens, Lincoln, NE

The photos weren't crucial. They weren't from a wedding or from a family reunion. But it wasn't like I could just go back to the Sunken Gardens or Antelope Park and take them again. I thought I was going to have to use my lower-quality cell phone photos for my report from the Great Plains UMC Annual Conference for the church newsletter. It was better than nothing, but I was still a little perturbed at myself for "losing" the photos.

So it was a happy surprise to find them! As I took this photo in the Sunken Gardens, I had thought about Randy's insistence that he wear K-State shirts to golf at Big Red Country courses while I was at the conference.

While I got lots of church business during the day, the gardens did their own "preaching," too.

All the world  is an utterance of the Almighty. 

Its countless beauties, its exquisite adaptations, 

all speak to you of Him. 

–Phillips Brooks, clergyman and author

This email devotional with the quote above arrived about the same time I found the photos.

 

God's "countless beauties" may be found in a Kansas wheat field ... or exploring perfectly-manicured gardens in a city.

I just have to take the path that opens my eyes to God's gifts all around me.

A Time to Act

Open your heart to the beauty that surrounds you.

(From the same email devotional)

 

A Time to Pray

Dear Lord, please help me to see the beauty of every day.

Today, I hope to see wheat harvest in action again after a three-day hiatus. Randy tried cutting yesterday afternoon and the wheat tested 19. But, with no rain overnight, we hope to be back to harvest mode this afternoon. I'll be taking photos of golden wheat again instead of golden roses.