Gardeners are a special group. They find wonder in every wildflower, a seedling pushing through the soil, and the garden centers full of new cultivars and heirloom plants. The myriad of shapes, colors, and textures astound and amaze. We never cease to marvel at God’s beautiful creation. It is a gift.

When we travel, I always look for the unusual or maybe a hard-to-find heirloom plant to add to the garden. When we visited Monticello, I found several treasures to bring home. Jefferson was an excellent plantsman. There was a huge selection to choose from. One cultivar was Love in a Puff. The name itself was enough to be intriguing. What kind of “love”? What kind of “puff”?

As it turned out, the plant was a vine. It wasn’t one of those “take-over” vines. It was well-behaved in it’s habit. The first year it bloomed I thought “This is not outstanding”. The bloom was quite small, white but nothing to brag about. But come late summer in the month of August…there were the “puffs”! They were about the size of a tomatillo and resembled one too.
When you opened them, inside were hundreds of seeds. That was the “love” the puff contained.

When I think about that sweet heirloom plant, I smile. Those “puffs” full of seeds just waiting to burst open and spread seed. That was the love they held inside. That was their gift.

Isn’t that where our love resides? Inside our hearts? Isn’t the treasure of our hearts the love, our talent, our abilities that Abba God has placed inside us? Do we not “plant” those gifts around us wherever we go? What are we planting? Good/bad? Beauty/Ugliness? Hope/despair?

I’m thankful for the small things…lessons I can find in the world around us. The gentle way He teaches using what He has created. Such a joy. Such a blessing.