Encouragement from the Little Wild Violet

         Recently I walked from the bunk feeders up the slope near Mother’s “Big Pond” to check on a cow. Once I arrived, I realized I had misidentified the cow from a distance. Since it wasn’t the cow I was in seeking, I trudged on thinking The cow of interest must the one farther north in the pasture. Alas, as I approached the second cow, I recognized I was mistaken again. Finally, based on color, I knew the cow I sought was farther northwest near the large ravine dubbed The Bear’s Den by my father long ago. I quickly assessed her and headed back.

        I turned quickly back to the house. To minimized anxiety for Mother, I  wrote the time for her to expect me back from checking and feeding cattle. I glanced down at my work watch that I usually strap on my wrist but in my haste had forgotten it. I hadn’t calculated in Mother’s timetable the additional time of the hike to check the cow.

        My speed walking began with an awareness of the possible hazards of perambulating too fast in a pasture. I remembered a few times my knees took the brunt of a fall when moving too quickly over unlevel terrain. In my memory of a fall several years ago, I uttered this prayer midfall, “Lord, heal me. Let me walk back to the house. Keep me out of the ER!” I finished the prayer as I got up off the ground.

        As I approached the shed near the bunk feeders, the rocky ground necessitated that I walked at a slower gait and stick to the cow path as I looked carefully where my feet were going. What a wonderful surprise came to my eyes!

        There at my feet was a lone wild violet. I had spotted little wild violets in previous years and in a couple of different locations. The little purplish flowers appear in our area between March and May.

        As I took a moment to look at it, I immediately thanked our gracious Creator for placing it on my path for that moment when I was a bit stressed.

        The pretty little bloom caused me realize if God created it and allowed me to see it at that very moment, He was reminding me of His care for Mother, the cow, me and all that concerned me.

        During this welcomed stress relief, I was reminded of His Word and it was what I needed to hear in David’s Psalm 138's last verse, The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands.

        Then in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit inspired Paul while in a Roman prison to write a companion verse to Psalm 138:8 in his letter to the new Philippian believers* found in Philippians 1:6, Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. As we daily read God's Word, we can rest that He will use His powerful Word as He works in us.  May we rely confidently on the assurance of His completion of His work in our lives until we meet Christ.

       

*Lydia was one of the young converts in the fledgling church at Philippi of whom Acts 16:14 records, The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. The Philippian group of believers had no building but met by the city’s riverside for prayer. What is the backstory on this woman? After the Lord opened her heart to Paul’s teaching, she invited Paul and Silas to stay in her home while ministering in Philippi. How did a woman in the days of the early church have a lucrative business to afford such an ample home and household to host Paul and Silas for an extended time? Lydia was a seller of purple, a product craved by the wealthy and elite of the day. They desired the  color of the little wild violet that God allowed on my path. Don’t we serve an awesome, good God?