I was driving the kids to VBS (Vacation Bible School) this morning along the same road we travel just about daily. The road(s) have been under A LOT of construction and they have been consistently torn up, rerouted, and resurfaced. As we were nearing one of the stoplights I glanced over to the side of the road that had been torn up and was now a pile of dirt and there was a single BEAUTIFUL red poppy. It wasn't one of the red wildflower type poppies, but a beautiful multi-petaled fancy poppies. I alerted the kids to the flower and I just sat there gazing at it while we sat at the light.

I started thinking about that little beauty amidst the mess of construction and starting thinking about life. How many times do we only see and focus on the mess of heart-construction when God has us working on an area. We may miss the beauty that is there if our focus in only on the repairs.

That little poppy is going to be my reminder when I start to focus only on the construction/character building in my life. Rather than let myself get down and wonder when is this construction going to be done or what a mess it is and why do I have to go through it, I'm going to look for the little poppies in bloom and know that a good work has, is and will be done in my life.

To your poppies...