I Tried to Buy Tulips

 

Do you ever go to the grocery store with your list and come to find as you stroll down the aisle that several items are completely out? Especially since the Pandemic hit last March, this has been a regular thing with various items, for different reasons suppliers and supplies have been delayed. First it was toilet paper, then it was oat milk, then it was orange juice, then it was oats. And so on. 

As we get into January and February I usually enjoy buying tulips as they finally emerge in the floral sections as Spring comes early to us here in the deep south. I have always loved tulips, especially around my birthday I let myself indulge in the purchase of these flowers that cannot grow here in the south and admire them as they open up and gracefully bend and reach like lovely ballerinas.

Not surprisingly I cannot find tulips right now. Nor could I last week, or the week before. Maybe they are elsewhere, adorning the tables of other homes. Perhaps they are still sleeping in their snowy abodes and haven't made their way to the south yet. So, I bought some lovely pale pink hydrangea stems and they are beautiful in their own right. They brighten my coffee table with their own charm that flowers can provide.

This was a small reminder that we are to be content with what we are given in life and to find the goodness in every daily gift. This helps me to remember to enjoy what gifts are present right here and now, and appreciate them, even if they are not exactly what I had in mind that I wanted. I really wanted some tulips because it is the only time of year I can get them, but I got hydrangea instead, and I shall enjoy and appreciate their beauty. 

Bigger picture, I woke up the other morning to see photos across my Instagram from all the London and Oxford people I follow of snow falling and the lovely landscape of the wintry snow scenes. I long for the snow and long for my favourite place like Oxford. I have missed it so much since my trip was cancelled last March. But to fit this example, Oxford is the elusive tulips that I cannot get right now. And that means I am meant to appreciate that which I do have right now, right here, and there are countless gifts to appreciate everyday that God has provided and I do not deserve. May we all look around us and see those gifts in these difficult days when a little light is most welcome. It may come along in a different way that you expected.