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"But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8 NIV)
It was the start of Spring several years ago. I had pulled out my old lawn mower to cut my grass for the first time. I pushed it over to my front yard. There mixed in with the multiple grass species, green onions, and dandelions I saw something new. A single buttercup was pushing its way through the soil. I bent down to examine it. It was bright yellow with five pedals making a star like shape. I sniffed it too and smiled at its sweet scent. It looked too lovely to cut down so I mowed around it for several weeks.
The next year when I once again pulled out the lawn mower for the first grass cut of Spring I saw that now there were several buttercups blooming where the first one had been. It brightened my day seeing how the beautiful little flower had multiplied so once again I cut around it for as long as I could.
Now, several years later my front yard is filled with buttercups. Some of them have also popped up in my back yard, the meadow and grave yard behind my house, and even over in my daughter’s yard up the road. I also see buttercups everywhere blooming along the sides of the roads and on the grassy hills near my home. I wonder sometimes just how many of these divine, lovely, little creations came from that first flower that I didn’t mow down.
It makes me think too about all the things we can multiply through our lives. Every smile we share creates other smiles as well. Every act of kindness we do brings out the kindness in those around us. Every moment of love we create multiplies in all the hearts it touches. In the garden of life what we give is what we grow. And when we give in love, joy, and goodness we make God smile. May all of your days be full of love then. May all your days be full of growth. May all of your days be as bright and beautiful as a billion buttercups.
Joseph J. Mazella
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