My son just now sent me this photo …
These mushrooms he just discovered growing in his yard this morning!
There is something exciting about discovering a mushroom growing in your yard! Especially when you’ve never seen something like it before!
Before moving to the forest, I had never seen a mushroom growing … ever. I was completely oblivious to the fact that fall is mushroom season.
I never cease to be amazed by how much fun it is to “find” surprises in nature.
I think God put something deep inside each of us that really enjoys finding surprises. Because God has “hidden” surprises for us all throughout nature!
God wants us to “seek” … God wants us to look for His surprises that He has “hidden” for us. Because God wants us to see how creative He is! God wants us to see how loving He is! God wants us to know Him!
So … scattered here and there, all along the path of our normal everyday life, God has “hidden” surprises for us to discover!
Such as this mushroom here!
I discovered this mushroom this past Sunday as I was walking loops around my front drive for exercise. There were 3 little mushrooms like this growing near each other.
What caused these three mushrooms to grow here? I have no idea. (I’m sure someone smart and scientific would know) All I know is that God caused these mushrooms to grow here.
Why? What is the purpose of these mushrooms? Once again, I’m sure someone smart and scientific would know. All I know is that the two little fuzzy caterpillars hanging out around these mushroom were enjoying them as food.
And speaking of food … my son just now texted me again. He did a “Bing reverse search” on his photo and discovered that the type of mushroom growing in his gravel is a: Coprinus comatus … commonly known as “shaggy ink cap.” According to Wikipedia, when it is young it is an excellent edible mushroom. Who knew! Wikipedia had a thorough explanation of how to eat this type of mushroom. Fascinating!
There you go … this right here is why God has “hidden” surprises in nature for us to discover! So that we would be intrigued … and compelled to learn more! And in the process, be amazed at what a creative amazing God we have!
These mushroom you see here appeared in my front flowerbed last week. I was beyond delighted to discover them! I haven’t seen mushrooms like this since 2020!
I have no idea what caused these mushrooms to randomly sprout up in my front flowerbed. Especially since this type of mushroom hasn’t shown its face in three years!
The thing which I find so fascinating about mushrooms is that you can’t make mushrooms grow. They just randomly pop up whenever and wherever they decide. And it’s up to you to be paying attention, if you’re going to have a chance to see them.
(Ok, so someone smart and scientific probably could make mushrooms grow …
But in my forest … that’s nothing I can control. That’s all God’s doing!)
Here you can see these mushrooms as they are first peeking their heads up out of the soil. (in the photo on the right you can see the drooping lavender bloom in the background … which gives you a sense of scale for how small these little emerging mushroom heads were)
God has “hidden” surprises for us all throughout our normal everyday lives. Little “glimpses” of who He is! God wants us to know Him! God wants us to “discover” His “hidden surprises” … because they sprinkle into our life joy! … and delight! … and by them, we are drawn closer to Him!
Maybe for you it’s not mushrooms. For very few people it will be mushrooms.
But God’s “hidden surprises” are in your life nonetheless.
You just have to seek-and-find. God is there! God is right there!
