When You Lament the Loss of Something Little

So, last Friday night?

We had the hailstorm to end all hailstorms. It didn’t give us the biggest hail I’ve ever seen {that would be the golf ball sized hail we had a whopping two hours after pulling into town}, but this storm was one of the fiercest. For over an hour, the hail dive bombed our house until we thought the roof might just cave in. The yard and driveway resembled the aftermath of an August snowstorm, everything wet and white. And my flowers and vegetable garden looked like someone had taken a machine gun to them, turning anything green into leafy shrapnel.

I nearly cried over the loss. If you live in Colorado Springs, you know how hard it is to grow things. Our high elevation brings dry air, intense sun, and fierce winds. But this summer gave us cooler temperatures and a delicious amount of rain, so my geraniums, roses, tomatoes and other plants sang like never before, overflowing large pots and garden boxes.

I’m not gonna lie: I was not happy – and even a little mad – to see a large portion of them ruined.

As I lamented the loss in my bedroom, a son with a wicked green thumb came into the room, gave me one of his plants and said,

“Mama, when you miss what you don’t have, just remember what you do have.”

And I am surprised to see that not only am I teaching one or two good things to that boy {with a whole lotta help of course}, but he is teaching me good things, too.

There are gargantuan problems in this world, and it’s easy to just wave a hand at our little troubles, or feel guilty for being sad over a small loss. But sometimes we are reminded of big truths from lamenting the loss of something little.

And now, each time I look at my new little bamboo plant, my lament turns to praise, and I am thankful.

Important note! Darlings, I’m going to experiment a bit with our out of the blue series. For now, we will save the linky for the last Thursday of every month. Thank you to all you girls who join along each week, sharing your glorious, sweet surprises. I hope you still come back on the last Thursday of September!

On Thursdays ’round here, we share out of the blue stories. Just tell us how God used something right out of the blue to build your faith, give you joy, or encourage your heart in the midst of your day. 

Some things to remember:

1. New to link-up’s or have questions about out of the blue? Read this first.

2. Since we all dig surprises, please surprise another writer by leaving a comment on her post *or* by giving her a facebook shout-out or tweet. Use the hashtag: #outoftheblue. 

3. Be sure to include the out of the blue banner (code found right here) in your post or link back to Chasing Blue Skies so your readers can join in the fun. That way, we can all easily find each other. 

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