Dear Reader:

Haven’t we all, at some time or another, said or at least thought, that God must have made a mistake creating a plant or animal…a river or ocean, forest or jungle…maybe even a hot desert?

For example….a platypus… I mean really?….a mixture of a duck, beaver, and otter with stingers on its hind feet…Ugh and Ouch…Really, pick one and stick with it.

The first time, as a child, when I ever questioned the Creation of something in God’s nature was when I was pulling out beach burs for the third time in one day while my family was vacationing at the beach.

I remember one aunt was pulling the burs out and reminding me to wear my “tennis shoes” to the beach each day while exasperated mother was putting aloe on my sunburn…I was miserable.

In the midst of all the torture I lamented “Why did God make burs anyway?” Mother was pretty fast when she responded “To teach little girls to listen to adults and wear their shoes to the beach and back…that’s why!!!!”

How many times have we heard, as children, an adult looking at us, quite exasperated, and saying something like “God sure broke the mold when He made you.” (Actually I always took it as a compliment…ignorance is bliss.)

So when I came across this little anecdote about pumpkins and acorns…with Fall freshly fallen…I decided it would be a good seasonal story for today.

“Pumpkins and Acorns”

Once upon a time a woman, walking through a meadow, began meditating on nature. It was autumn…the favorite season of the young woman and God’s beauty was abundantly transparent in a tapestry of golds, browns, oranges, and reds. 

Still leisurely walking … she came upon a field of golden pumpkins. It looked like a sea of yellows and oranges from a fairy tale. Suddenly one object began to stand out from this mesmerizing Fall scene .  In the corner of the field stood a majestic oak tree.

The beautiful young woman walked over to the corner of the field and sat under it…providing shade from the midday sun. She began musing on the strange twists in nature which put tiny acorns on huge branches and huge pumpkins on tiny vines.

She thought to herself, “I do believe God made a mistake while making pumpkins and acorns. He should have put the small acorns on the tiny vines and the large pumpkins on the huge branches.”

The scene was so pastoral and peaceful…before she knew it the young women began nodding off. She finally gave in to the sleepiness enveloping her and stretched out under the oak tree for a nap.

She had only been asleep for a few minutes  when she was awakened by something striking her face.

Surprised she jumped up and looked around, only to discover that she had been hit by a tiny acorn bouncing off her nose.

An epiphany immediately swept over her and she started laughing out loud. She rubbed her nose and thought, ” Whew! That could have been a close call if it had been a pumpkin falling from the majestic branches…maybe God was right after all!”

……………………………

So until tomorrow…Let us remember how limited our knowledge of the world is….how finite…and leave Creation to the Creator in all His wisdom and infinity.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*My birthday (yesterday) started with the sound of pings as emails came bouncing in …. They started early in the morning and pinged until late last evening.

Thank all of you for the “Happy Birthdays”….I truly felt loved.

The Ya’s arrived at 10:30, along with torrential rains, but the rain doesn’t deter mail carriers or the Ya’s….Laughter filled the whole house very quickly ….and my heart felt good with all the ooh’s and aah’s on the new renovations, especially the open windows. (And as a gardener, I was so happy to see the rain for all my flowers and plants…thank you God for the birthday gift!)

The first gift was flowers from Brookie and then the rest of the Ya’s kept flowering me with more and more gifts-too numerous to mention but including a beautiful necklace, new orange pocketbook, ‘meaningful bracelet- story later on a blog post…. and on and on….Libby’s  monkey (which I will share with Jakie Saturday night) shouts “Happy Birthday…OOH OOH…Happy Birthday OOH OOH!” Jakie will love him like I do.

My girls were here…All’s right with the world!

We were off to Oscars for lunch and then Ben surprised me by showing up with the first draft copies of his impending publication  (Grace Under Fire) for all of us.  I cried at the dedication.

Libby and Jackson had to go back to Columbia from Oscars so Ben, Brookie, and I headed back home and were talking when the doorbell rang…it was Jo and Colby. They couldn’t stay but a minute so I didn’t get their pictures but their faces stay a warm memory in my mind always…*I only pray that I can have that same close relationship with my grandchildren that Jo has with Colby…a thing of beauty!

They brought me a a beautiful, fall-colored  ‘throw’- I told them I needed it each morning now when I sat down at the computer and the chilly early morning breeze sent shudders through me. I love it girls…thank you!

Tommy called and asked if it suited if he and Kaitlyn took me out to supper for my birthday…We went to Continental Corner and had a wonderful supper bringing some home to Ben who had crashed after staying up several nights to finish his book. Thank you Tommy and Kaitlyn for a lovely birthday dinner.