Hot August Days: August 3

I've accepted the challenge to post one thing per day that I enjoy.

My August 3 pick:


My weeping willow tree. Willows have always seemed a bit magical to me, with their gracious height and elegant tendrils. A neighborhood friend of mine in childhood had a house that backed up to a small creek, with three of these trees planted along its banks. We spent hours having picnics and playing with dolls in the cool "rooms"created by the low-hanging branches. Ever since then it has always been my dream to have one of these trees planted at my home. We planted this one for Tim's birthday five years ago, soon after we moved here. I was sure that we wouldn't ever get to experience the tree in its full glory because, unlike annual bedding plants, a tree takes awhile to get truly majestic. That's where God comes in.

This willow has grown at an unbelievably rapid pace, so much so that our neighbors frequently come to look at it. A geologist hired by our HOA last fall confirmed that we planted the tree over an underground spring. It has grown to unbelievable glory while preventing our neighbors' yards across the street and as many as three doors down from flooding. It's also prevented (or delayed, but we hope for the best) several sinkholes from forming in the area.

That, to me, is the wonder that is our Heavenly Father. To take a sweet childhood memory from a girl in Indiana and use it to not only bless people with unbelievable beauty but also safeguard their homes is something that only He would think of. That is my definition of Intelligent Design at work.