Daffy-dills!

Oh -- how fun!! The daffy-dills are finally finally showing their beautiful happy yellow faces...the tulips are sure to follow. John Bell is here at Western this whole week, leading worship and opening my eyes, ears and heart to scripture that I have been hungering and thirsting for! Next week, Mark Yaconelli will be here for a contemplative youth seminar and I'm looking forward to reconnecting with him.

This year, I have been volunteering with Vanessa through the KIDS HOPE program. Vanessa is in the 3rd grade; we first started meeting in October and she was a wild child! Walking on tables, running and hiding from me, running and climbing on, over, under, through anything she could find. Over the past few weeks, it seems we've turned a corner. Last week, she decided it would be great fun to take everything out of my purse and examine it!?!? This week, she shared more about her family than I've heard all year while working on painting a heart on the back of my hand.

Anyway -- what's all this got to do with daffy-dills, you may ask. I think that somehow the daffodils remind me that even though I can't always see the growth, or take responsibility for the growth, or even know when those glorious yellow flowers will appear, I trust that it will happen. I have faith that it will happen. And for Vanessa, even on the days when I was chasing her down the halls of the elementary school (NO RUNNING IN THE HALLS!!!), I had faith that someday we would have days like today -- bright, warm and sunshiny, filled with the promise of spring and the gift of a new friend.