Texas Tiny Blue Forget-Me-Not Flower and a Grandmother's Promise

When people think of blue flowers in Texas they mostly imagine the bluebonnets.  They are beautiful and plentiful throughout the Hill Country in spring.  However, last year I noticed another blue flower and yesterday I marveled when again I noticed it right in front of my house. Its very appearance is significant and miraculous- a promise being kept.

  The flowers are tiny- almost the size of a paper punch circle, and bright blue with a yellow center. But I knew these flowers.  My grandmother gave me one in a necklace as a present before she passed away from cancer.  The tiny Forget Not Flower is said to have got its name as it cried out to be noticed, fearful of being overlooked because of its size.  My grandmother gave me the necklace knowing she would one day die but if I needed her, I could see the flower in my necklace and remember her.  Sadly, the necklace wasn't sealed properly.  I wore the tiny blue flower around my neck when she was still alive then I put it away.  After she died, I retrieved it for comfort, only to find that the blue flower had turned purple.

I am a faithful person.  I grew up in a loving home with parents who taught me that I was loved of God and had a divine purpose.  Believing in life after death was never a challenge for me because it just made sense.  But I am not a perfect person and pain helped doubt sneak inside of me, just like the air had penetrated into my blue flower necklace and began its decay.  I always thought I would be believing- brilliant blue and preserved forever in my faith.  However it didn't take much for my petals to turn purple as my hope withered in fear.  The "what ifs" and "how comes" of life played a toll on my heart.

 I married a faithful man. I love him and I didn't want to be a doubter.  I also have children and want them to be strong in faith.  It is a good quality.  Faithful people are happy, secure and determined in their hope.  I want that for them.  I want it for myself too, if only it is possible.

So that is the background of where I stood a couple of years ago as I looked over my front yard.  Then I saw it.  A tiny blue flower- all by itself.  It grew right in my path- right in front of my front door.  There was no mistaking what it was because I knew this flower.  I also knew that it had not been there the previous years I had lived in Texas.  It was new.  It started out as just one tiny plant, then one very small bunch of flowers before it faded last year.  This year, the tiny flowers cover an area of about 2 square feet.  A small space- yes, but you can fit a lot of dot size blue flowers in that space.  So this year I let my daughters pick a few and press them.

I asked them, "Do you know what this flower is?"

"Yes" my 5 year old replied, "You told me last year.  It is my great grandmother's flower."

I stared in amazement.  I did not even remember telling her my story last year.  Yet she did not forget.

I do not wonder very much about how that small Forget Me Not flower really got there.  How did it take root at my doorstep?  Do you believe in very random coincidences of out of place flowers with very deep personal significance just appearing in front of homes?  Or do you believe maybe- just maybe, someone bigger knows what our heart needs.

It doesn't take huge miracles to grow tiny blue flowers from even more tiny seeds of faith.