Zinnias

Each night before my kids go to bed, we read stories, read from the Bible and pray. Occasionally we read a few poems too. The other night we read from a book of poems by Valerie Worth and I'd like to share a poem from there with you called "Zinnias" (which are one of my favorite garden flowers).

Zinnias, stout and stiff,
Stand no nonsense: their colors
Stare, their leaves
Grow straight out, their petals
Jut like clipped cardboard,
Round, in neat flat rings.

Even cut and bunched,
Arranged to please us
In the house, in water, they
Will hardly wilt--I know
Someone like zinnias; I wish
I were like zinnias.

As I read this, I thought that I have a beautiful bouquet of zinnias in my home--my 3 daughters, small missionaries that they are. They are so like zinnias with stiffness and straightness. They have been cut from the soil of Moldova and brought to America where they are a beautiful bouquet when we visit churches or they brighten their classroom in their school, just like flowers do.

And through all the cutting and change, they have not wilted, but they have become more beautiful. They have participated in school musicals, taken swimming lesson and loved children's church and Pastor Corey. But they never forget the garden that they call home--Moldova.

Will you continue to pray for our children, Elissa, Natalie and Lauren? Pray for constant change and adjustment. Pray for final good-byes in the next months with their new friends here. Pray that they'd continue to grow and become all God wants them to be.