Roses. Receiving Lee’s Gift
This could also be titled “letting go”, “the power of receiving” or “the treasure hunt for blessings”—But for me it is about the lagniappe of Lee Gaupp in my life...
On the evening of June 11th, I walked into our kitchen to find my large red plastic bowl on our bar top, filled with water and as many roses as it could possibly hold. Right then, my husband Lee, appeared and asked, “Did you see your flowers?” He was beaming with delight, as he said, “I just cut them off your rose bushes for you!”
“They’re beautiful. Did you cut all of them?” I asked, as I quickly glanced out the window and confirmed that he truly had cut every single rose off the bushes in the yard.
“Yes, I did!” Lee said, waiting for my reaction with anticipation.
“Aww, thank you so much honey! They really are amazing!” I shared my delight with him at how gorgeous they were and that I loved his gift, keeping my internal surprise to myself that I no longer had flowers in the yard to gaze at through my big picture window.
I just let that go and received his love-filled gift.
As I am writing this, it’s just another confirmation to me of the phrase that keeps playing across my mind…letting go. I am so glad I was able to let go of my desire to keep some of the roses blooming in the yard to enjoy. I didn’t make my own preference an issue, as Lee presented me with this amazing demonstration of his heart of love for me. I could have completely missed it by not graciously receiving it. But I did not.
Five days later, I noticed the red roses, which filled up most of the bowl, had wilted. We were in the kitchen together and I pointed it out to him. He said to go ahead and toss them. So as soon as he went outside, I pulled out all of the dead red roses and petals, then noticed that the coral ones were still thriving. Unlike the red blooms that were each individually cut, these were a couple stems from the coral rose bush. It still had 6-8 unopened buds on it along with the single blooming flower. I doubted they would open, but I placed these stems in a slim glass vase that I had and placed it on our kitchen window sill. This was June 15th.
The next morning, when we were both in the kitchen, I showed him the coral rose and all its unopened buds that were beautifully displayed in our kitchen window and said that even if the buds didn’t open after all this time, it was still amazing. He said, “Cool!”
That evening, while Lee was out watering my flowers and my grapes, his heart stopped. My husband had suddenly stepped from this life into his abundant life. While it was my birthday here, June 16, 2021 was my amazing husband’s heavenly birthday. Of course I have so much more to say about him, but this is about those flowers and me receiving his gift.
It was just 2 days later, amidst life turning upside-down for me, my mind going into a stupor with shock, my body suddenly in a severe symptom flare with the invisible illness we’ve been fighting to get me back from, and the tidal wave of activity surrounding me, that I was able to recognize God’s blessing to me in Lee’s gift.
My oldest son had just arrived from out of state with my blessing of a daughter and my two little granddaughters, who both have birthdays coming up that will make T- 5 and N- 3 years old. My granddaughters came gently over to me when I came out of my room in the morning and I told them to listen closely… “When I get up in the morning, I am on a treasure hunt for God’s blessings and it’s like I have an invisible basket on my arm to collect them. He has them laid for me to find if I’m looking for them.” Their eyes were big. I knew they couldn’t possibly understand everything I was saying but I was planting seeds into their little hearts and knew some part of it would sink down and take root.
Not even an hour later, Lee’s gift of the coral rose caught my eye! I had moved it to a prominent place by my chair in the front room. Not only was the one rose blooming, but it had expanded and now 6 other buds had opened and were flowering as well. All of those dormant buds had turned into beautiful vibrant coral roses. I immediately brought T, my older granddaughter over and excitedly told her that I found my first treasure in my hunt for God’s blessings. Then I took her over and showed her the blooming flowers that her PawPaw had picked for me last week and how they just hadn’t opened… until today. She shared my excitement and followed me to the back deck to get a picture of them.
What a loving treasure for me from my Heavenly Father. I am so glad I was on the hunt, looking for what He wanted me to see that day.
This is but just a small glimpse into the heart of the Father’s love, not just for me, but for each one of us. Even during times of devastation, trauma and loss, He will leave breadcrumbs of blessing for us to find that become cherished treasure and beacons of hope for our wounded soul.