Living La Vida Hosta

TODAY’S LAUGH: Doing a little outdoor fall cleanup this weekend, I moved a pile of black plastic sheeting on the deck (where I’d left it after a feeble attempt at some spring landscaping). Under the plastic I found a bucket of mud. I turned it over into the garden and sliding out with the mud came four hosta babies. Last May, I’d divided a larger hosta and intended to plant the little ones right away but must have gotten, um, distracted. Obviously.

Plant these hostas right away… oh look! I see something shiny. Maybe it’s money… no, no, focus. Focus? Sounds like ficus. Gotta dust that stupid  fake ficus in the living room. But wait. First plant hostas… Ooh! Ooh! I think I just saw a hawk. I love birds. Maybe I should fill the birdbath. Water…Mmmm, I’m thirsty… I’ll go in and get a drink of water. Or coffee… and chocolate. Yes, chocolate… on ice cream. Mmmm…

You can see why the hostas spent the summer in a bucket of mud.

TODAY’S ENCOURAGEMENT: Here’s the amazing thing. The little hostas had survived. I planted them. They’ll be fine. Some plants need carefully controlled environments, requiring just the right balance of light and heat. Hostas aren’t like that. Hostas grow in sunlight or shade, enduring drought and flood. They can survive a whole summer buried in mud. Obviously.

Hostas are sturdy.

I want to be a hosta. When the tough stuff of life has me buried up to my neck in mud, I want to survive. I want to make it through the droughts of hopelessness, the floods of despair that come, at one time or another, to all of us in life.

I want to survive and I will, trusting in the strength of the One who promises to be with me through it all. And after I’ve endured, I’ll have a new appreciation for those blessed seasons of sun that shine all the brighter for the darkness that came before.

I want to live “la vida hosta”-the hosta life. How about you?

(Oh, look! A cardinal! I’d better find the bird feeders… Where’d I put the birdseed? Hey, I should fill the birdbath. Mmm, water… thirsty… coffee…)

And so it goes.

P.S. I just finished They Almost Always Come Home by my good friend Cynthia Ruchti. I could not put this book down after reading, “She would leave her husband…if she could find him.” HIGHLY recommended reading in the inspirational-mystery-suspense-romance category (which I just invented).

GIVEAWAY: CINDY is offering TWO copies to two lucky readers. To enter the drawing, send an email to mary@laughlady.com with “HOME” in the subject line. (Winners will be drawn on MONDAY October 25, 2010. One entry per person please.)

(Now where is that coffee…)