Boxed Surprise (06/05/2025)

Yesterday afternoon my husband helped me water the big ferns on the front porch. I still can’t lift or carry heavy things, so he lugged the gallon pitcher of water out for me. When we got to the porch, we discovered a square box. After watering the ferns, I carried it into our home and opened it. Inside were three tiny potted succulents. They are so tiny, so precious, so perfect, and so surprising because I don’t know who sent them.

I love them. I love succulents because they remind me that we are called to thrive even in harsh conditions. I love the tiny tags on each: joy, nature, thrive. I can’t imagine how someone knows me so well that they know that those three words are special to me and a constant thread in the fabric of my life. And as I stood at my counter, taking in these wonderful, living gifts, I felt “seen.”

And my mind began to swirl. The joy gushed up and out. My husband asked me if I knew who sent them. I told him I was sure it was someone who read the daily blogs. I said I had a couple of ideas. But then I told him that one of the intangible gifts in the package was not knowing, realizing that “someone” cares and sees, a realization that opens the mind, heart and soul to a deeper trust.

Last evening, as I stared at the three small potted succulents, I took time to ponder each of the tags.

“Nature” stirred me. My Celtic roots and genes have always stirred me to recognize the Creator’s power and presence in creation. Readers know I frequently am struck by the actions of a critter or the resiliency of a living plant. I draw lessons from them, too. The LORD creatively uses them not only to draw me closer but to teach me new things or to remind me of earlier lessons.

“Joy” broadened my smile. Oh, yes, “joy” is a bi-product of knowing Christ. I can always tell if one is truly a Christian by their joy. If they are joyless, I suspect their faith has a leak. As I stared at the succulents, I thought of the joy I felt when I received them, undeserving, unaware. And I immediately connected the dot to my Savior and LORD. He won my salvation and life through His sacrifice. They are gifts to me. I did nothing to deserve them. They are pure gift. How can that not elicit joy?

“Thrive.” Oh, I thought, how the LORD desires that we “thrive.”  He said it Himself: “I came so that they might have life and have it in abundance” (John 10:10). Our LORD wants us to thrive, to flourish, to prosper: “For I know well the plans I have in mind for you – plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jer. 29:11). This doesn’t mean our lives are without challenges and hardships; rather it means that we are not defined nor limited by our challenges and hardships when we are wholly and fully open to our LORD and His love.

This morning, as I write, I want to thank the one who sent me this boxed surprise that so touched me. I want to assure you that your gift will remind me daily to be a person of joy, to rely upon the LORD and the gifts He has given to me regardless of the challenges I may encounter, and to trust in the LORD and thrive in my place, in His love.

And to my fellow companions on the journey, I encourage you today to consider nature around you and our LORD’s power and presence at work there, manifestations of His abounding love. I encourage you today to consider the LORD’s plan for You – plans for you to thrive because He is with You even in the most challenging of times. And lastly, I encourage you to open yourself wholly to the joy that comes from life in, with and through the LORD – a possession not meant to be hoarded but a possession, like faith, hope and love, that mysteriously grows greater when we share it.  

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.