Last week an older lady from church phoned me.
It turns out she’s the one who puts flowers up front in church for special occasions, like a vase of pretty flowers, poinsettias at Christmas, or Easter lilies for Easter. My friend Loretta had mentioned to her that she was pretty sure Easter lilies trigger my asthma (which they do!)
We chatted for awhile and she mentioned that she wasn’t sure how she was going to get the flowers to church for Easter as she would be on holidays.
She is a lovely lady (who’s voice always makes me think of auntie Jenny and so brings back fond memories!) and I told her I would be happy to get the flowers to church if she needed help.
A few days later she phoned me back to say she would really appreciate it if I could help out but told me I could do the flowers in my own way. She had already purchased a bunch of pussy willows but the rest was up to me.
I was intrigued at the idea of using my gift with flowers as a way to give thanks for the amazing Gift God gave us when he sent his Son.
I thought about it for a few days. I knew I wanted something that spoke of Spring and rebirth. I also wanted something that would last for more than one day. Of course in the back of my mind I also knew that it couldn’t be so unusual it might make some uncomfortable. (We aren’t too good with change are we?)
Cut flowers were out.
A visit to Wellingtons, some more pussy willows, a stop at another garden center and Rona, plus a good rummage around the house for extra supplies and this is what I came up with:
I had a plan. I was a little nervous about my plan but I truly wanted to serve Him joyfully in this matter so I loaded everything up and off I went.
The pussy willows were first. They looked great just in the vase on their own (actually that’s my flour jar!) but I wanted to get that feeling of spring, so I covered the table with sheet moss. I also ‘planted’ a pansy in the moss.
I knew most people wouldn’t be able to see it, but there is a man in our church, a fellow gardener (much,much beyond me, he’s the Principle for Horticulture for our city) who was recently diagnosed with cancer. He sits right up front and had his first round of both chemo and radiation this week. I hoped that, somehow, if he was feeling well enough to make it to church, the sight of this little flower might give him a little lift.
I was very happy to see that he did make it to church on Friday morning! (although of course I don’t know if he even noticed that tiny flower! smile)
My next challenge was to figure out how to put the rest of my things together.
This is what I came up with:
I was quite happy with how things turned out.
I must admit though, when I saw how high up the cherry blossoms went I was rather nervous that the minister had found them too distracting!!
I thought I had better ask, and when I did, he assured me that it was no problem.
Whew!!
I would do this again in a heartbeat!
Happy Easter to all!