A garden brings peace to a heavy heart

Two Sundays ago was the day my son Andrew and his fiance Ruth were to have been married here on Bountiful. Ruth was still stuck in the UK and Andrew was here, and nothing seemed about to change on that score.

The day brought about the worst weather scenario we could have had for a wedding at Bountiful - gale force winds, sleet into occasional snow and mud up to your never-mind. We clung onto the hope there were better days ahead, and the struggling couple spent the day together on Skype. Technology is a great mercy in these times.

Both had applied for exemptions to travel on compassionate grounds, but been denied, and thought that was it. Then they discovered a Facebook group for couples in the same boat - wanting to marry but unable to travel due to government restrictions. When others shared of their success after trying more than once, that seemed the way to go, so apply they did.

Last Sunday would have been an awesome day for the wedding. Bright sunshine, mild temperatures and an absence of our prevailing westerly winds. Perfect weather to accompany the news that Andrew's second application to leave Australia for the UK had been granted. 

Here we are, two days further along, on the first day of Spring. Andy is busy applying for his visa to the UK and Ruth is booking a venue - a necessary step in proving to authorities you intend to marry. They are hoping all will be set for a wedding later this year.

Covid-19 couldn't stop the granting of an exemption, but it seems it has denied Cameron and I the chance to be at our son's wedding. 

It was always a possibility. But now, it's real.  

Don't get me wrong. I really am okay with it. My priority is to see them be together and get married because that is what their hearts desire most. But it isn't wrong to want to be at your child's wedding.  I'm grieving that loss. 

At the beginning of each year I make a point of spending time with God and asking for some insight into the year to come. This year has been full of so many changes, there hasn't been another one where I've looked back at my journal to check out that first January entry more than this.  

January 3, 2020 was one of the first mornings of the new year I had been able to sit on my verandah at Bountiful without choking from bushfire smoke. Everything around me was dry and brown, with marauding grasshoppers attacking any plant still daring to survive the drought and smoke. I didn't want to journal my own thoughts. I needed to hear what God had to say.

A year of change. Just as the grasshoppers come and go, so will this year. So much change until they come again. Be prepared. A lot will be unexpected. You will need to be prepared to act quickly at times, knowing I have forewarned and prepared you. A year of goodbyes, not all of them happy but some wonderful. It's a hard year, an enriching year, a blissful year, a sad year. This is normal life in 2020. You may feel a little like your foundations are rocked, but they're not - I haven't changed and I am your firm foundation. There is no need to fear... there will be times of great joy and satisfaction and times of courage and unexpected sadness. You will conquer all, manage all, with Me.

I have needed this encouragement and reassurance many times this year, not least of which is right now. To be a woman of faith in this rocky world gives me hope and assurance, even when it looks like the world is going to hell in a hand basket full of coronavirus. God does have a plan and I need to stick with Him as it evolves. 

God is just about the only thing in my world that is unchanging and spending time in His creation gives me such strong evidence of this. While many of my beautiful plants sleep soundly during the colder months, one tiny little jasmine flower gave me encouragement that Spring was on its way.

I had many years ago planted this little seedling, and each year as its tendrils would curl upwards, I trained them through this wire fence in the hope that one day it would be covered in its fragrant goodness. I'd always wanted a jasmine next to a gate where every time you walked through it, the scent would remind you of spring and the warmer weather to come. 

You can see Mia waiting patiently as I take this photo with the gate open.

Just a few weeks later, my dream came true.

I'm now greeted by the promise of warmer weather every time I come close to the gate. 

This encouraged me to take a good look around my garden and be thankful for the beauties that continue to bless me as they appear year after year. 

I've written before about my favourite pink camellia, Buttons and Bows. It cheered me no end to see this one standing proud at my front door.

Impatiens aren't known as winter flowers but these guys have kept smiling all through the colder months and are now beginning to put on new growth.

The bees are going crazy for the lavender right now

You may be more familiar with the orange clivea, but I love my cream coloured one, and it's starting to pop!

At Bountiful, the trees are waking up and putting on some glorious new growth. This is Prunus Nigra, one of three ornamental plum trees. 

And the snowdrops I planted in the pot with my heucheras and Little Gem magnolia have begun to sprout.

I couldn't forget my all time favourite camellia, Brushfield's Yellow

And this gorgeous little surprise packet - a Double Red Hellebore, aka Winter Rose.

If you could give human character traits to plants, I'd call hellebores the shy kids in the garden. That's because their beautiful blooms always face towards the ground - hence my hand in shot to make sure you see it in its glory. 

The garden brings me a lot of peace. It is a huge encouragement to my heart to have a garden and enjoy what it brings year after year, or in spring after a tough winter. God's creation reminds me that some things never change, and there are times when I need to reminded of that, like a nice big hug. 

I've chosen Tomorrow from the musical Annie as my song for this post. The sun will come out tomorrow. The same one that shines on Bountiful will also grace a wedding in the UK later this year. 

This version of Tomorrow by Idina Menzel is full of all the emotions I'm feeling right now. I hope you enjoy it. 

Come what may, 

Tracey 💑

With thanks to Idina Menzel's YouTube channel for Idina Menzel - Tomorrow (from LIVE: Barefoot at the Symphony)