Blooming on the Other Side

Look how this hydrangea has one bloom poking through the fence to bloom  on the other side.  Here comes an unexpected transition for you - We lost a baby through miscarriage back in 1998. While I wasn't very far along in my pregnancy, it was a loss of epic proportions for everyone in my little family, and I went down with it for a while. 

It was such a surprise that so many women I knew had also experienced this same sort of loss, so, unhappily, I had lots of support. Not a sisterhood I had wanted to join ...  I read a couple of books, had my hand held by the sisterhood, and asked "why" of my Lord. This passing was a refining fire for me, particularly in the "why" arena, a former favorite of mine. 

Some dear soul gave me a printed story that makes this photo special even today. It was the story was of a mom who had suffered loss through miscarriage - busy trimming her roses some months later, she noticed some buds had slipped between the rails to show their bloom in the front yard. God whispered comfort to her, showing her that her baby was blooming on the other side, in eternity. 

This simple story really spoke to me, and I've carried it around for eleven garden seasons now. That loss seems like so long ago now, and sometimes I worry that I don't think of that child enough - a person should be remembered well. But every summer, some plant manages to bloom on the other side of a fence for me, prompting thoughts of my son, maybe daughter, blooming in heaven, on the other side of this life. Now it makes me smile instead of weep - lots of smiles every summer!

"...you will not grieve like people who have no hope". 1 Thess. 4:13b