Dear Reader:

I don’t know how many times I heard my mother use that expression, “Oh we’ll make do”  when worried about financial matters (which was a lot of the time) when we were growing up. But she also, always added one more phrase, “With God’s help we’ll make do.” 

And the thing is…we did. Mother put three children through college working as a single mother with one hand. Her faith was unwavering…not that she didn’t have her moments of tears, anger, bewilderment, disillusionment, questioning, and doubt…mother was human…but in the end she never lost her faith. And it was faith that provided solutions to everyday problems…turning doubt and fear into “OH, we’ll make do…with God’s help.” And God never let us down.

I have been thinking about that phrase a lot for several reasons…I have been caught up in making lots of changes with my banking institute and my insurance company over documents and changes that I have needed to do for quite awhile but just kept putting it off. Financial decision-making is definitely not my forte and way out of my comfort zone…but now that I have completed a good portion of these overdue changes I feel so relieved that I did it.

And the thing is…it was all quite easy and nothing half as bad as the scenarios I had conjured up in my own mind. I feel so much more confident now about my ability to plan and carry out my life with a deeper understanding and more confidence than ever before. With God’s help…I am making it happen.

Take for example, even something as simple as the Easter lily in the title photo. Apparently it had fallen out of a container it was in at Easter…decorated with bright paper and ribbons. I must have thought the Easter lilies were dead and thrown the container away…but in doing so…one lily (with root still intact) sat on top of the ground and somehow managed to get the root underneath enough leaves and compost to grow again.

Yesterday as I walked over to the driveway to get in my car and start pulling out…something white caught my eye. I put the car in neutral, got out and lo and behold there was a white Easter lily! Because the root wasn’t deep in the ground…the bloom was just lying on the ground too…fully open.

I quickly looked for a tomato stake or any kind of stake to prop the stem up  …but there was nothing. I turned off the car and walked back in the house…suddenly I saw it. My favorite cross that Joan Turner gave me one year…so pretty and unusual. It would work!

I took it outside and draped the lily bloom over the cross. It took my breath away…how beautiful! It was just as if that cross had been made for just this special occasion! Tomorrow…I will track down another stake…but tonight and early in the morning…the cross will keep the Easter lily bloom upright and shining. It deserves its moment of fame through everything it has done to survive and bloom again.

After it blooms…I will gently dig it up and plant the flower roots in the right depth so next year…the stem can stand on its own.

But for right now…the cross will certainly “make do.”

So until tomorrow…Father , give us insight and creativity to help ourselves ‘make do’ as needed. You gave us the ability to reason out these daily problems…and  keep your glorious nature alive.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Here are some more “glorious nature” blooms from the garden!

I got a good report on my overall health from my primary doctor…Dr. Montoya yesterday. I am still having some very low white count showings but Dr. Jeter, my oncologist, is on that too and I have complete faith that she will figure out what to do with some of the medications I am taking that is causing this side effect.

In the meantime I will just “make do” by staying as healthy as possible…*I know it was my cereal piled high with bananas and blueberries that provided the good health report today! Cheerio!