My husband and I were walking on our property one day. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, and the temperature was comfortable. We were making new discoveries when we saw a thistle in full bloom. It was about three feet tall, full of sharp spines lining the leaves with purple blooms at the top that resembled pompoms. Even though the spines were thicker on the bloom, there was a bumblebee enjoying those flowers. It couldn’t seem to get enough of the goodness it knew was at the center of all the sharp needles. I was mesmerized watching it. The bee crawled from place to place in the bloom. I marveled at how this fat bumblebee could meander through all that danger of being painfully impaled, and not be harmed at all. It was fully aware of the danger, but was willing and even seemed driven to get to the goodness anyway.

This got me thinking. We all have hard and even dangerous times in life. I don’t know about you, but I tend to complain about them. I do pray about it and try to hear from God. I don’t always leave it there in His hands after I pray. Most of the time, I have to lay the matter in God’s hands several times. I need to find the balance between leaving concerns in His hands while finding the good in the hard times. There are times when God calls us to trust Him through sharp needles and danger to trust that He is there in the midst with us. He has goodness in the center of that, a reward if we are willing to look for it as tenaciously as that bumblebee.

There are so many scriptures in the Bible that have been special to me over the years. I try to remember that David of the Old Testament also needed strength, comfort, wisdom, and help. He wrote Psalm 121:1-8 when crying out to God and declaring where he knew that help would come from, which is David’s and my Maker, God. In hard times, I try to cast all my cares on my Heavenly Father, as it says in 1st Peter 5:7, and feel my burden immediately lift. Isaiah 26:3 is another one I lean on that brings my sore heart sweet peace. When I’ve walked, crawled, and been carried through hard times, and made it out of the foggy darkness, I can join David’s praises as in Psalm 30:1-12. The treasures of the heart I have found through troubled times are priceless. Though humanly speaking, I would rather not go through hurtful times, the treasures of peace, comfort, strength, wisdom, and even joy have been worth the thorns. In the end, we can trust that God, our Heavenly Father, always knows what He is doing.

I pray you have a very blessed week ahead.