I have a special fondness for irises. When I was a young girl, a small patch of yellow irises used to grow at the corner of my front porch.
Years later, when I was a young newlywed and a young mother, the small town where hubby and I used to live had an Iris Festival Parade around this time every year. Our son was quite small at the time and our daughter was just a baby. The Iris Festival Parade was the very first parade we ever took our children to … and where we introduced them to the joy of having candy thrown by parade participants just for them!
The Iris Festival Parade was sponsored by the large iris farm which was just up the road from where we lived. It was a delightful small-town, down-home parade. Floats passed by all decorated with beautiful irises of every color! Flat-bed trucks passed by with square dancers whirling on the back.
The Iris Festival Parade was such a wonderful treat for our young family that it left a lasting impression on me of awe and wonder!
Out of all the many homes hubby and I have lived over the years, we have never actually had any irises growing in our flowerbeds. Until this home we are living in now. Two years ago I was soaking in the glorious sunshine on the back deck, when I heard the gravel crunch on the driveway out front.
It turned out to be our neighbor just down the street and around the corner. I had never met this neighbor, but hubby had met both her and her husband. That particular day she had been thinning out her overcrowded irises and had a whole cartload of iris rhizomes left over. So she had driven her little garden cart over to our place to offer the pile of iris rhizomes to us.
I was thrilled!!
I gladly accepted the huge pile of iris rhizomes, and she unloaded them in a large heap.
The thing is, I didn’t actually have anywhere to plant all those iris rhizomes. So, I immediately got out my garden tools and began clearing away weeds in the back garden corner, to prepare a spot for my newfound “treasure.”
The area was badly overrun with blackberry briars and bracken ferns. And it was a lot of work to clear a small patch of ground! But I succeeded and was able to get the iris rhizomes in the ground within the next day.
That was two years ago. The irises did not bloom at all last year. That patch of ground where I planted them was a difficult place for them to get established, so I think they’ve had a hard time.
But this year! This year they are blooming! I am so delighted!
Here you can see our beautiful blooming yellow irises … a gift from our kind sweet neighbor!
As I sit at my dining room table having breakfast, I can see the bright splash of color in the far back garden corner! It brings me so much joy! And I think of our sweet kind neighbor who gave us the irises.
She probably doesn’t even remember giving us the irises. She probably has moved on with her life. But I remember her! Her gift meant so much to me! And I thank God for her!
We never know the impact we have on other people.
As we live our lives, and as God prompts us to speak words of kindness to people or to do an act of kindness for someone, we have no idea the profound impact that might have on someone!
We move on with our life, just like my sweet kind neighbor has moved on with her life. She lives around the corner, and I never see her. She probably doesn’t even remember her act of kindness.
So also, in the same way, we don’t remember the kind word we shared with someone or the small act of kindness that we did for someone.
But it might have meant the world to them!
And just like the yellow irises blooming two years later in the far back corner of my garden, so also our simple kind word or small act of kindness for someone might be blooming two years later in their life. They might be daily grateful for us … even though they will never see us again.
And we have no idea. No idea at all.
As I am filled with joy over the beautiful yellow irises, I am very much aware of how much kindness matters! The simplest words of kindness can have an impact far greater than we ever imagined! Our small acts of kindness toward others can have an impact far greater than we would ever dream!
Thank you God for our sweet kind neighbor, and for her gift of yellow irises!
Thank you God for the great opportunity You give us every day to offer simple words of kindness to others, and to do small acts of kindness for others!
