How involved is God in our daily lives? What if He’s much more present than we ever give Him credit for? Surely, there are many different interpretations of Scripture and conclusions that people have when approached with this question. I’m learning that He just might actually hear the things we’re praying to Him. Let me oblige you with a story.

My parents have a long gravel driveway that leads to our house. Lining the driveway is fluffy fescue grass with periodic cutouts for six to seven rose bushes then every 15 feet or so are trees. I’m not a tree expert so I’ll describe them this way: there are green trees and purple trees. These two types of trees are lined every other: purple, green, purple, green, etc. The purple trees are my favorite right before springtime because they have these beautiful pink blossoms that show up for a few weeks as the weather begins to turn.

I so look forward to these small pink flowers to appear because it’s like the unlocking of the door that points to warmer weather and summertime just around the corner. The Masters golf tournament will be weeks away at this point, the time change which ushers in brighter evenings is usually timed similarly to the blossoms. I love this time of year because of the anticipation it births.

I remember these pink flowers very vividly growing up and somewhere along the way they became a yearly staple. One that I looked forward to with real excitement. But something weird happened three years ago. I don’t know if Covid got in the water, we had a deep freeze, or what, but in the spring of 2020 the blossoms didn’t show. The trees went straight to their purple leaves. These trees are elsewhere in the Valley and they blossomed as usual but our property’s blossoms never showed.

Without exaggerating, this was quite a disappointment for me. But it only upped the ante for pre-spring 2021. To my dismay, the blossoms were nowhere to be found in 21 either. For those of you that know my story, these weren’t my most joyful years for a number of reasons. I was looking for anything to extract some excitement and joy, and these blossoms not showing up were a real bummer. 22 rolled around – same story. At this point, my family and I were simply befuddled. What’s wrong with our trees. Did they forget a step in their yearly cycle?

So, this year rolls around. I was having an early February quiet time on the front porch in the middle of the frosted seven o-clock hour. I was in my sweats, wool socks, ski jacket, and a beanie. Fingers frozen, I sipped my French roast coffee and was eating one of my three now chilled scrambled eggs.

My morning routine looks identical to this every weekday morning. I love being outside so I brave the cold and enjoy the view that winter produces on the yard. This particular morning, after eating and worshipping and doing some Bible reading, I decided to walk out into the sun. The frosted grass was newly melted and the temperature felt 20 degrees warmer stepping out of the shade into the sunlight.

I made my way walking down the driveway, more observing nature than anything else. I stared at the flowing, wild green grass on the property that the earlier January storm had welcomed. I gazed at the still sleeping trees along the driveway, hoping yet again that this would be the year for our pink blossoms to return. I walked back up the driveway, praying to the Lord this time. Thanking Him for the beauty that winter has to offer. As I returned near the house I had an idea, what if I prayed for the purple trees.

At first, I sort of laughed off the idea. But then I thought, what the heck, why not? So I began the walk. I went to the first purple tree on the right-hand side of the driveway, stood in front of it, looked up, then felt compelled to lay my hands on the tree and then I prayed. I asked that this tree, in the Name of Jesus, would blossom once again it’s pink flowers. I proceeded to repeat this process for every purple tree up and down our driveway.

It brought me a sense of joy and laughter throughout the process. What was I doing? Praying for trees. Ha, but my heart was really in a place of asking the Lord to do this. If anything else, it felt like the Lord and I were having our own intimate moment, walking together up and down the driveway. I began thanking Him for other things that came to mind and praising His beauty once again.

In the weeks that followed, I’d take a peek at the trees. No real changes. I saw on the forecast that we had some warm, sunny weather rolling through. I wondered what it would do to the property after all the rain we had received. Walking down the driveway again one morning, I looked closely at the trees to see if the grey ends to their branches were yielding any change in color. Some were turning slightly purple, the green trees seemed to be awakening as well. About three quarters of the way down the driveway, at the end of one of the purple trees, there was a little pink ball on a lone branch. Seeing that in a matter of a few short days or even hours, there would at least be one pink flower to appear. Nodding my head with a smile, I thanked the Lord for the answered prayer.

The weather continued to warm and these pink balls seemed to show up here and there. Fast-forward a few weeks and the flowers were beginning to show up. Could Jesus really have heard my prayer? 1 Peter 5:7 says, “give all of your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” But does he care about me enough to hear my prayer for a simple flower?

Normally when a big storm rolls through, like the 4.5 inches we received in the Valley this past week, it knocks off the blossoms. Before the storm there were pink flowers on just about all the trees, about half bloomed. I was content at this point, the Lord had answered my prayer. For three years I hadn’t seen the trees yield this beauty, this was enough!

The storm has now subsided, and it barely looks as if a flower has fallen, and the trees are continuing to burst with pink. Every morning as I leave the house I am overcome with thanksgiving that Jesus actually heard my prayer. Now, I don’t know all the science at play here. All I know is that for three years my favorite part of leading into spring failed to show itself, then one morning I said a prayer for these trees, and they are yielding even more beautifully than I remember.

I’m concluding that God is much more apart of our daily lives than we’re ever fully going to understand. This has been a source of joy, but also an area of conviction. I ought to be praying specifically with the Lord. Not to just receive the things I want, but to invite Him into the intricate, intimate areas of my life. Friends, I want to encourage you with this. Remember 1 Peter 5:7, give your cares to God. Why? Because He actually cares about you and the things that you care about. What’s your pink flower? Pray the big, specific prayer. Stand back, look for it, and see how God meets you. From what I can tell — He’s listening.