Backdoor Rose

Yesterday, I found a beautiful surprise waiting outside our back door—two perfect unfurling white roses. Since I love roses and have planted dozens outside, rose bouquets are common at our house in summer. But now that the seasons have passed into late fall and our Ohio weather has dipped for weeks into hard freezes, a backyard rose is a rare and miraculous treasure. That this rosebush, tucked along the relative warmth of the house, has withstood the harsh weather is amazing in my mind—but of course, I love it!

Tough times aren’t hard to find these days, and we all are weathering some things not quite as lovely as we’d want. But even in the midst of disappointing news and tough circumstances, those two beautiful white roses brought an untouchable peace, perhaps from knowing that the One who makes the roses bloom despite harsh weather can also bring beauty out of our hard days.

When I set out to be a writer, I don’t think I fully comprehended where words go … but I thought maybe I had something to offer, and so I wrote. It didn’t take much time to figure out that whatever I might write would be taken in different ways. I don’t see myself as having the answers, and certainly don’t see myself as being perfect, but instead see myself as simply a person who, like everyone else, has a story to tell. The process of telling my story is surely flawed, but my simple hope is that my words will be authentic, and a real telling of a journey. My writing is a telling of the view through my lens—what I see, and the hopeful attempt to catch the beauty that happens by.

In this season of economic hard times and high stress, my prayer is that my writing may be a surprise waiting beside the back door … a fresh perspective that may bring a glimpse of beauty and may help point hearts towards hope.

As always, thank you ... enJOY today,

JLK