Just a Daffodil

It warmed up last week and some little green sprigs of the early spring plant life in my yard started popping up here and there. Since winter is my favorite season, I was a little disappointed to notice that it is coming to a close without giving us so much as a single snowflake this year. So I have tried to ignore the signs of spring coming to life around me. Kind of like saying it isn't there if I don't acknowledge it.

That works, right? Ignore it and it will go away.

This past Monday as I was backing out of the driveway to go to work, I noticed a tiny little yellow
bud in a small patch of green on the left side of the car. Inwardly, I groaned. It's a daffodil. Spring is as good as here when they arrive. 

Every day as I left and came back, I couldn't help myself. I was drawn to look to the left of the driveway. The bud was unchanged for most of the week. It had turned off colder early in the week, so this had no doubt slowed its progress. It has rained every day though, so there was no shortage of water for the tiny little flower. It was just a bit too cold for it to finish blooming.

Saturday mornings, I usually linger a bit longer in my quiet time because I don't have to go anywhere. As I sat in my recliner enjoying the rain, I noticed the little flower. It had bloomed. In spite of the colder temperatures, it had hung in there. It was still alive; even thriving. It was drooping a little, but only because it is so small and the rain was beating down on it. 

The Lord spoke to me as I sat looking at the little flower. I felt Him urging me to not be upset with the daffodil because it's merely doing what He created it to do.

Yes, Lord, I know it is, I reasoned. But it's not spring yet. It's February. It's still supposed to be winter, and we never even got any snow. As if  He didn't realize that.

I got up from my chair and went on about my Saturday, but I couldn't get the little daffodil out of my head. I even went out and took a picture of it. The picture attached is the actual daffodil in my yard.

I thought about it off and on all day, and it started to come into focus in my mind that God is speaking to me through a flower.  A flower, and a yellow one at that, when He knows I don't like yellow. It's my least favorite color.

Sunday morning, I was having coffee and prayer time and I stole a glance in the direction of the flower. It was still there; kind of droopy, but completely in bloom. 

It was the only one in the yard.

I'm still not sure what the Lord was saying to me. Possibly that everyone has a purpose, even a tiny, lone daffodil. It doesn't matter if you stand all alone, do what you were made to do. 

That's what the daffodil did. It did exactly what it was supposed to do, in spite of the cold, in spite of the rain. It took it all week, but it finally bloomed. 

I left for church, and the lone daffodil stood proudly, though still droopy. 

When I returned, the sun had been out all morning. For the first time in a week we had sunshine. I expected to see the daffodil finally straightened up with its face toward the sun.

But it was gone. My heart sank. I parked the car and walked over to where the flower had been. No sign of it anywhere. Not one indication remained that there had ever been a yellow daffodil there. The entire plant was gone. I looked all around, thinking maybe one of the squirrels ate it, but there was no yellow anywhere. I don't think it was a squirrel that got it, because they are messy; when they eat pecans on my porch they leave crumbs and shells everywhere.

I think someone picked it. Lots of people walk in my neighborhood and it was close to the street. 

I may never know why the slowly blooming, early daffodil caught my attention, but I actually felt loss when it was gone. I felt like I had been robbed. Actually, I had. It was on my property, so it was mine. 

I was looking forward to seeing it standing upright and not drooping and now I never would.

Pretty silly, I know. All this fuss over a daffodil when I don't like spring, or yellow. Somehow, though, I think something warmed slightly in my heart. The little analogy of a too tiny, too early daffodil resonates within me. A very important truth has been revealed to me.

No one is too small, too insignificant, for God to use. Not even a tiny daffodil. 

I will never look at daffodils the same.

"The Lord has made everything for its own purpose..." Proverbs 16:4 NASB