Mexican Petunias

"Weeping lasts but for a night. Joy comes in the morning." Psalm 30

It's sure true in front of our house! Each evening the front flowerbed looks as if it has been landscaped by someone who hates flowers. Sticks stand tall, festooned with unimpressive gray-green leaves. Nothing more, just tall sticks with narrow leaves.

Then comes the morning, and everything changes. The sticks have become supports for brilliant blue flowers. Each proudly sports sets of three, four, or five flowers. All reach toward the sun with iridescent joy.

And it's not just at our house. The greenway dudes have planted bunches of Mexican Petunias beneath the "instant palms" that appeared after last year's hurricanes. The neighbors on our right planted three small Home Depot Mexican petunia plants which have grown into a small forest of morning brilliance. All around the neighborhood "evening sticks" become morning blossoms.

"Joy comes in the morning."

David, Israel's harpist-king, wrote those words as the centerpiece of a dedication hymn. He was an old man, re-tracing the sins and forgiveness of his life. There were many reasons for weeping. There were even more reasons for rejoicing!

"You brought me up from the grave," he wrote, "and spared me from going down into the pit. You made my mountain stand firm."

I wish I knew the tune he composed to go with the words. I imagine sad notes and twisted chords suddenly transformed into choruses of exaltation and credenzas of joy.

"You turned my wailing into dancing. You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent."

Some days feel like the sticks that uglify our front yard. Then God comes with His comforting rest and the dawn of His Son.

"Weeping lasts but for a night. Joy comes in the morning. O Lord, my God, I will give you thanks forever!"

Dick Duerksen
Assistant Vice President
Mission development
Florida Hospital