I had just laid my kids down for their afternoon naps, and was approaching that glorious time of day when I can gather my thoughts, catch up on tasks, and just breathe for a few minutes when I saw it.
Across the street, a lone, bright red tulip. It stood stark against the neighboring house, surrounded by dirt and barely emerging hosta plants. And all I could think was, “I love tulips.”
But the question is why? Why do I love tulips so much? As far as flowers go, they are neither the most elegant, nor the most fragrant. They produce just one flower per stem, and do not bloom perpetually throughout the summer.
Yet, they rise out of the ground when conditions are harsh, when the hope of spring is just a spark. Each is a vibrant, bold color, daring us to stop and look. They are strong, straight, and unyielding, yet exude grace and gentleness in their lines. They jubilantly shout, “A new awakening is here!” on the days when frost may tip the ground, when gloomy clouds hang low, and in spite of windy blustery conditions.
I want to be a tulip.
How often is it that we meet someone who overflows with hope when morale is low and conditions are bleak? Someone who optimistically shouts, “A new day is coming – it’s just around the bend!” when everyone else is full of complaints? Who possesses a gentle strength that lends encouragement to others?
In conversations among moms who see their children’s shortcomings all too clearly… we need more tulips.
After difficult, discouraging stretches of life when the answers are few and the questions are many… we need more tulips.
When change is imminent and it’s overwhelming and unknown and frightening… we need more tulips.
Tulips are people who dare to hope. Who are bold and brave and full of optimism. Men and women who brighten life for those around them simply by standing tall in their outlook. They look beyond difficult conditions. They see past the long winter. They stand tall when others are timid. Their quiet beauty and strength touches each person they encounter.
They are not people who are hopeful in an empty, “everything will probably work out” sort of way.
They choose hope that courses as a thoughtful, abiding tide that says, “I know the Author of this Story. And He has proven Himself to be trustworthy time and again. He is the Inventor of hope. The Rescuer across the chasm. The Giver of all good things. The One who wipes our tears away. The Creator who knows you and loves you. The Father who runs to you with open arms. And the One who has already written an ending to this Story that is going to be so great, it will make all the sadness and tears and everything seem just like a shadow that is chased away by the morning sun.
Or, just maybe like a field of tulips after a long winter.
“Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life; the quiet confidence that ultimately everything will be alright, and the determined choice to praise God in all things.” Kay Warren
“For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.” Isaiah 43:19 (NLT)
Our Greatest Hits 