One More Iris

Today is Mother's Day. I don't know if it's my first or second. Technically I was a mom last year, because I was pregnant with Micah, but this is the first year I've had a baby to hold on Mother's Day. Anyway, that's really insignificant...

Chicago is a crazy city when it comes to the weather. Ask any Chicagon why it might be sunny and 70 degrees on one day, then raining and 40 degrees the next day, and you'll likely hear, "This is Chicago!" We can't explain the weather, but we do know that it's a little fickle at time. Such was the case today. The last couple weeks we were experiencing glorious, sunny days, up to the high 70's. Yet overnight it dropped about 20 degrees, and this morning we woke to heavy rain.

Rainy days cry out, "Stay home and relax. Enjoy the indoors." Scott and I almost did that today. But it was Mother's Day and I wanted to go to church for one very specific reason. A flower - I know it sounds silly.

I can recollect numerous Mother's Days seeing all the moms receive a flower at church. And I am a mother this year, so I wanted to go to church and get a flower. For that reason, Scott and I got ready and went out in the rainy day so Bekah could get a Mother's Day flower at church. (Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy attending church for other reasons! Actually, if you're interested, you can check out our church's podcast...Pastor Peter declares the truth of God's Word, and it is food for the soul)!

Upon arriving at church (about 30 minutes late...), I was getting ready to find a seat with Micah while Scott parked the car. Before I got very far, an usher caught my attention, "Oh, I am so sorry! I just gave away the last flower to another mom!" What? Wait...how did this usher know I was banking on that flower today? Was I wearing a sign that read, "I came to church for a Mother's Day flower"? I played it cool and said, "Oh, that's fine!" and proceeded to take a seat. I glanced around the sanctuary and saw beautiful single roses sprinkled across the congregation in different mother's laps. But not mine. I wasn't sad really, I actually found it to be quite comical! I told Scott the whole story when he joined me in the pew, and we just chuckled to ourselves.

When we got home after church, I took some flowers out of our fridge that I had bought on Friday to pass out to some neighborhood moms. There were 2 packs of 5 Iris flowers - 10 total. And I had exactly 10 people to give them to. I took each Iris and attached a little Mother's Day note, and went to deliver them to each women they were intended for.

Guess what I soon discovered? After delivering 10 flowers, there was still one more Iris. I did the math in my head, and even used my fingers to count - 1, 2, 3...yes, I had delivered all the flowers, but there was still one more. There had been an extra Iris in one of the packs!

I got my Mother's Day flower after all. God does have a sense of humor! Though they ran out of flowers at church, I had bought an extra flower on Friday (unbeknownst to me), and that would end up being my Mother's Day flower. :-)