Article April 16, 2018 Issue

Inspiration blooms

Tracy Colerider-Krugh

Two years ago I first noticed them: a bright spot on my morning’s commute to work, a sturdy bunch of orange-gold California poppies growing in a triangle of gravel at the entrance to the 110 freeway.

I appreciated them so much that one day, while stopped at the stop sign with no one behind me, I delayed my journey by taking a couple of photos out the car window. I was in awe of the flowers’ resilience. My goodness, how could they manage to grow in that bleak spot? I thought about them throughout the year, long after they were gone, and rejoiced at their return the following spring. They reminded me of a plaque I had hung in my college dorm room decades ago: “Bloom where you are planted.”

I wondered if there might be a Biblical parallel, something that gave deeper meaning to the phrase. What came to mind was, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). That certainly fit how those flowers were shining above the grit, inspiring me to be aware of God’s ever-presence, and reminding me to glorify Him.

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