Difficulties Nurse Understanding

Pilot Light

From birth, each of us begins life with a spiritual pilot light in place. Sometimes it may dim, but it is always there.  Recently, an object lesson of life reinforced that to me.

“Husband, there is no hot water to wash dishes, my hair, or to bathe!”

 Denny checked the pilot light, and it seemed to be out.  He followed the directions on the hot water tank to reboot the pilot light, but to no avail.  We still had cold water.  So, he called the plumber for a next day appointment. We dreaded how much this would cost us.  We went the entire day without cleaning anything.  

Then, late in the evening, Denny was at the kitchen sink rinsing a dish and said, “Hey, we have hot water.”  Yep, the gizmo had reset itself, the pilot was on, and the water was hot again.  We wondered how long we had hot water.

This reminded me of the many times I thought my pilot was too dim to have sufficient faith to expect a miracle.  Sometimes I thought it was off when I could not write an inspirational blog.  Once, I even thought it went out when I lost a dear friend, Nancy Hoopingarner, who many others and I had prayed for believing a healing from cancer.  Instead, Nancy died rocking our faith and temporarily extinguishing our pilot light.   Who do you call for a reboot to your spirit?          

            Sometimes we suffer in a state of hurt and despair creating more seeds of destruction.  We operate on the premise that our circumstances can’t be fixed. We stay in that cold place a long time shivering with no hope or understanding.  We sink so low that we finally look up and ask our heavenly Father to help us.  When we do surrender, we discover warmth, a peace, and an understanding.  Were our pilot lights always lit but went dim because of what we were telling ourselves?  Were we operating on disfigured truth because of the circumstances?  How long do we stay facing the wall, when all along the eternal light within is ready to convert our worldly thinking into spiritual understanding?  My goal is to search my inner light and buried truth sooner and remember I have the constant warmth of the Spirit.

Waiting prayers

Waiting …everything I am seeking is on the way.

            In May, I planted two small moonflower plants.  I wasn’t sure they would grow on the trellis because it was not located in full day sun. I asked God to bless them as I do when I plant most of  my flowers.

             As each of my spring beauties blossomed, I marveled at their bright colors of yellow, purple and pink and wondered when my moonflowers would bloom.  As summer annuals were mixed into my perennials, I looked at the moonflower vine and observed it was growing, but there were no buds.  Annuals bloomed brightly, and soon in July and August my ten hydrangea bushes burst forth large, elegant white and pink blooms.  I looked at the moonflower vine, and it was still climbing the trellis.  September came and I pulled wilted annuals and cut back some of the perennials and wondered if I should pull up the moonflower vine since it was doing nothing but producing heart shaped leaves.  I was rushed that day of gardening and decided to just leave it and pull it out when I came back from vacation.

              As I surveyed the gardens when I returned, I could not believe what I saw.  Giant moonflowers were on my trellis and evidence of some that had bloomed and wilted while I was gone.  The plant produced what it promised.  It bloomed in its time and its season.  In the midst of becoming my blessing, I almost uprooted it.  Instead of expectation as I had in the early months, I felt disappointment toward the end of summer. I almost destroyed my blessing before the bloom time was here. 

            How many of us have planted prayer seeds and wondered if they would be answered?  At first we were patient and diverted by other things around us.  However, months passed and seemingly no answer.  Then, it shows up.  It slips into your life so quietly, with grace and ease.  You might not even believe it at first.  When you weren’t looking, working, or even praying about it; suddenly the answer is there.  My moonflower taught me a wonderful lesson this summer.  Pray for something with all my soul, my full heart, and have confidence that God hears my prayer and acts on it.  That’s it! In fact, I don’t have to do anything but look up and see my moonflower in His timing.