Jesus Smiles

As long as I can remember, I have loved digging in the dirt. When I was four years old, my mother gave me some seeds and told me to plant them. I took them near my summer playhouse and hoed the ground until I got a place cleared away to plant my precious seeds. Every day I watered my little garden and watched for the seeds to sprout. Finally, I saw some tiny leaves peeping up through the soil. That was the day the love of nature was born inside me. How proud I was when my mom put a bowl of my cherry tomatoes on the dinner table.

Throughout the years, I continued to plant and watch things grow. Flowers grew in every corner of our yard and when I moved away from my parent’s home, I continued to grow plants wherever I could. I once lived in an upstairs apartment and grew plants in pots, barrels, and wooden containers, on my veranda. I was in hog heaven when I moved back to the country and had a place where I could dig up the front yard and have flower gardens again.

One afternoon, I was knee-deep in dirt reworking a flower garden when my small granddaughter came to my house. As she knelt down beside me, she asked me what I was doing. I told her I was taking care of my “Jesus smiles.” Being the inquisitive child she was, she asked me what a Jesus smile was. Well, I told her, do you see this rose bush with all the rose buds on it? “Yes,” she answered. Those are reminders to us that in the Bible, Jesus is called the “Rose of Sharon,” and there are not too many people who do not smile when they see a beautiful rose. I pointed out that the forget-me-nots were reminders for me of who makes all things grow. I told her I came out every morning to see my flowers and I always knew when new blooms came on during the night. She looked up at me with her cute little button nose all puckered and said, “Now I know why you call them Jesus smiles.” “Why is that?” I ask her. “Cause, Jesus makes then grow and that makes you smile when He does,” She said…”You got it, baby girl,” I told her.

        

    Grandma's Flower Garden 

These my child is four-o’clocks

Over there stand forget-me-nots.

Morning glories, pink, white, and blue,

From the porch is a heavenly view.

Grandma’s shadow, she follows me

Looks like the girl I used to be.

“Flowers smile,” one day I said,

As we stood near the pansy bed.

Roses are for thought you see,

They speak of love… for you from me

A sprig of lavender I then plucked

And in her hair I gently tucked.

 She reached out and kissed my cheek

 It touched my heart I could hardly speak.

And to this day, this very hour,

I see her face in every flower.

There is never a time or a situation when we cannot introduce our children to the love of God. That is the way I see it.

And why ye take thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these. Matthew 6:28-29


Have a great day in the Lord;
Mary Frances King