I love making checklists. Sometimes I make a checklist after the fact, just for the satisfaction of checking off the boxes. This week my list included tackling several WIPs (works in progress) that awaited my attention in the “she cave,” aka sewing room.

The sun was shining through the window, and I couldn’t seem to focus on the tangle of loose threads. The lure of the sunshine was too hard to resist. As my gaze returned to the window, I spotted flowers.

Unexpected flowers.

Flowers nestled among the rocks.

Slipping through the sliding doors, I knelt to examine these hardy beauties.

I had grown violas on my upper deck last summer. When I pulled off the wilted blooms, I usually dropped them off my deck to the gravel below. From those flowers tossed to the wind, new “volunteers” bloomed where the dead blooms had fallen.

Self-sowing flowers are called “volunteers.” No exertion or dirty hands required. My kind of gardening.

That morning, my thoughts were as tangled as the loose threads on my quilt. It seemed no matter how I rearranged the fabric of my thoughts; I couldn’t find a pleasing pattern. Too many of my friends were struggling. A child with cancer. Marital infidelity. Death of a spouse. Depression. I felt overwhelmed.

Then my gaze landed on those serendipitous flowers.

Brilliantly colored flowers flourishing among the rocks.

Beauty glowing in stark contrast against the drabness of the surrounding landscape.

A delicate flower exhibiting unexpected strength in a hard place.

Placed there by God.

A visual reminder that God’s grace is sufficient for the hard places.

A gentle nudge to remind me, that God’s grace is sufficient for my hard place. It’s so easy to speak these words to struggling friends, but more difficult to accept when it is my struggle.

So, I’m adding a new WIP to my checklist.

Learn to embrace the hard times and look for the flowers of grace.

For each of you struggling in a hard place, I pray you experience the sufficiency of God’s grace.

You are loved!