Vive la Difference

I've been as excited as a kid at Christmas the entire month of April as I've watched my Irises exert all their energy toward producing beautiful blooms. Every time a bud of a different variety opens for the first time it sends me running for my camera. (Hence, the four cornered insets in the photo above.)

You have to understand, I am a VERY novice gardener. Until about two years ago no amount of money could have hired me to plant, water and get my hands dirty. I was NOT - and never had been - an "outdoors" person. These days, you practically have to tie me down to keep me out of the yard. Vive la difference!

I have always admired Irises. I think they are one of the most delicate, stately flowers - simply beautiful. But I never dreamed I could grow them. Two years ago, I admired some irises in my mother-in-law's backyard and, true to her generous nature, her response was "let's go dig some of them up for your yard." Gulp! My MIL can grow anything. She has the greenest thumb of anyone I've ever known. Honestly - someone must have handed her Aaron's rod and that's why it budded! In the past, I've managed to kill any cutting she has given me.

I brought her irises home with fear and trembling and planted them by Roy's water garden (aka the goldfish pond), thinking the "reedy" look of their leaves would lend a natural look. That's all it took. Before the summer was over I had dug up all the neglected and ratty shrubbery in the bed that frames the water garden and replaced them with a plethora of different irises and day lilies from my daughter's yard, Louisiana irises and cannas from a friend's yard, Asiatic lilies that I split and transplanted from another of our beds, and even some purple wild irises that I brought back from the pond at my North Carolina daughter's home. This spring, I have reaped the benefits as they have bloomed prolifically throughout the past month. By next Spring (or the next) I'm hoping they will have spread and reproduced enough for me to share with others the way my family and friends shared with me. What fun!

I have been so intrigued with the distinct differences in the variety of blooms. I'm not sure I could even pick a "favorite." Every time a new one blooms I'm smitten with its beauty and certain it is the loveliest thing I've ever seen. And then another "new" one opens and it quickly takes over the coveted "favorite" status. I can be pretty fickle, I guess.

As I've "considered the lilies (irises) of the field; how they grow" this Spring, God has greatly impressed me regarding their uniqueness and individual beauty and differences. How boring the pond would have been if I'd planted only one variety - if there were only one color blooming. It's the differences that make it so enjoyable.

And the same is true in the family of God. Why do we only look for friends that are just like us? Why don't we think we can learn from and enjoy the differences in others? It's the full spectrum of individuality - unique personalities and perspectives - that add the color and beauty to life. Dare to reach beyond your norm and embrace a friendship with someone different from you. Vive la difference!