This is a last hurrah for summer. Although it'll likely be 90 degrees in Texas for another month or so, my heart has already shifted towards autumn. In celebration, I'd like to welcome one of my favorites of this season's treasures: the hydrangea. While many previous sources of life begin to dry up and wither to the ground now, hydrangeas are at their peak of beauty.

I saw these hydrangeas waiting patiently and proudly in the flower buckets at Whole Foods. As I passed them by, doing a triple-take on the way to the strawberries, I thought about the loneliness and emptiness that seem to have characterized the last month of my life. Within moments, they were in my cart.

I eagerly welcomed their beauty into our home. They were showcased perfectly atop my royal blue swirly tablecloth from India, in the clear vase that held flowers from my husband on our wedding day.

This morning, as I studied their uniqueness through my zoom lens, I became more and more awed by the delicacy of each colorful pinwheel-like bloom. Only God would use every shade of the spectrum to create something so intricate...with no earthly purpose other than to be admired and enjoyed.

So if there is a God who has taken the time to decorate a singular flower petal with thousands of shades of purple, pink, green, and blue, then I'm sure He is intimately involved in the details of my life. Perhaps that's the very reason he added so many little "extras" during the creation of the world. He didn't have to...but He wanted to...to show us more of Him.

Today, I'm hoping for my heart to bloom with the same brilliance as they.