My Heavenly Father Loves Me...

Whenever I hear the song of a bird

or look at the blue, blue sky
Whenever I feel the rain on my face
or the wind as it rushes by
Whenever I touch a velvet rose
or walk by a lilac tree
I'm glad that I live in this beautiful world
Heavenly Father created for me.

When I was a little girl, I loved this song and I still do! This morning, I was torn between doing something good that I really wanted to do, and being responsible and doing something that I really needed to do. It was the final day of Youth Conference and testimony meeting time. I love hearing the kids testimonies and I had spent about 1/2 of the youth conference time with them. However, I had no responsibilities there and really needed to stay home with the younger kids and use the morning to do some desperately needed yard work. But, I was still torn with the idea of tagging along with my hubby and sharing the experience with my older kids. Well, I decided to take the responsible route and sent my hubby on his way. Little did I know that I was about to have an incredible morning full of reflection, gratitude and the warmth of Heavenly Father's love, along with a fun moment with Glen and Emma.

First off, I dug the hedge trimmers out of the shed and pulled out the extension cord that Rich had assured me would work. Well, much to my dismay, the plug is very fat and would not fit into the opening on the hedge trimmers. Needless to say...I was a little frustrated. So, I decided to move on to weeding until Rich could get back home and help me.

I started pulling weeds in Emma's butterfly garden. There I noticed the absolutely beautiful and fragrant lillies that our neighbor had given us this year. I had no idea if they would grow, but they turned out to be gorgeous!

I then went to the front of the house to weed around the bushes. This is my least favorite place to weed, and I just wanted to get it over with. About 10 minutes into it, I noticed that one of my two rose buses that I thought were a hopeless cause, had a beautiful blossom on it. Did I really miss the beauty of those 3 red roses in the rush of everyday life?I certainly hadn't missed how bad everything in the yard had looked lately.

I continued on realizing that the weeds really weren't that bad and that somehow the petunias on the front porch that I haven't watered for over a month, were very pretty and healthy looking.

Then I went to the back of the house and decided to work on the little spot where I planted peppers and tomatoes this year. I was getting very ticked as I kept finding cat poop and the smell was awful. Keep in mind I don't have any cats, but my neighbor has 7. It's hard to be like the Savior at a moment like this...Anyway...I worked through it and just as I got to the end I noticed my planters of herbs that I really hadn't been taking very good care of. Just as I was noticing how bad they looked, I noticed a caterpillar crawling on one of the dill plants. I looked closer and there were 3. I quickly called Emma and Glen outside to show them. Emma has been watching for butterflies in her garden all year, and Glen had been talking about them at his Junior Master Gardener Class. They were both very excited, and as we looked closer, we found 13 caterpillars, all at various stages, living on my not so hot dill and cilantro plants.
Finally, I moved to the front of the driveway, where just as an experiment, I planted some cucumber and green bean seeds this year. Since we have an asphalt driveway and it is so hot during the summer, my plants and shrubs have always burned up by July. But, I dccided to give it a try this year, and the result has been amazing. So, I bent down and started reaching between the cucumber plants to pull the weeds and I kept hearing this buzzing sound. Finally, I realized it was the bees that my friend Ami had told me I would need to pollinate the plants. It was music to my ears! Then I noticed among all the little yellow flowers that I had baby cucumbers growing. Ahhhh...the feeling of success! Then I got to the area with the green beans that I really thought were strangling each other because of our lack of skill in training them to grown up a pole! :) Guess what I found? Little baby green beans!

I caught myself singing..."Whenever I hear the song of a bird or look at the blue blue sky...."

With sweat pouring down my face and neck and tears in my eyes, I was overwhelmed with love for my Savior and for His wonderful creations. There is so much to learn from the world around us. Just as my beans and cucumbers have grown from a tiny seed in a random patch of dirt with a small amount of my help and knowledge, so can we grow as we trust in the Lord and follow His plan for us and allow him to magnify us and make us more than we ever dreamed!