The First Sign of Spring

No, it isn’t the winter solstice, when the days presumably start getting longer.  🙂  
For me, the first sign of spring is the flurry of seed catalogs that start showing up in my mailbox, it seems to me, around December 26.  I haven’t even achieved novice status as a gardener, but I have a penchant for growing things, and when those catalogs begin to turn up, I pour over them, drinking in the plush roses, the gorgeous peonies, the dramatic dahlias, the multi-colored ears of corn, the shiny purple eggplants, and I dream of summer, when my yard comes alive with color and fragrance.  In fact, I don’t even have to visualize summer: I delight myself with mind-pictures of the first crocuses and daffodils and those show-offs, the tulips.  Both in my imagination and in reality, I am awed by flowers–by plump tomatoes–by pumpkins and spaghetti squash.  What an amazing world God has created–where a handful of seeds can produce, in mere weeks, towering sunflowers that bob their bright yellow heads in the passing breeze, where a single apple contains the beginnings of an orchard!
As I write this, snow is falling.  And that is beautiful, too.  Last year was dry in our area; wells were low and fire was a constant danger.  Snow is a gift; it will melt into the ground, when the time is right, and add significantly to the underground water supply.  Everything is a blessing.
Are any of you working on your 40-Day Miracle?  I’m on Day 48, and I’m so glad I discovered this process, this journey.
Here’s the thing you need to know about miracles.  They can be very simple and small–a reminder, an insight, an idea, a chance meeting with a friend.  I don’t know about you, but in the past, I’ve made the mistake of thinking a genuine miracle had to be something BIG, preferably with fireworks and a booming orchestral score and a cast of thousands.  🙂  
Wrong-o.  The best miracles are the ones that change you, on the inside.  That’s where the rubber meets the road, my friends, on the inside.  Just as 8-foot sunflowers come from small seeds, seriously major miracles grow from simple choices and quiet decisions.
Think about it.