Nothing says Spring like flowers, and one of my favorites is the bearded iris. Not only are irises big, bold, and beautiful, but they’re low maintenance and deer won’t touch them. Yes, I’m bad-mouthing deer again. Think four-legged flower-eating machine and you get my drift. But the hardy iris waves its frilly petals at them and thrives. All you have to do is toss a few iris tubers onto a dry spot in the sun, and within two years you’ll have a colony of blooms, no green thumb required. Speaking of colonies, bearded irises sailed across the Atlantic with early settlers in the 1600s and spread out across the country with them.
About this time two thousand years ago, something big, bold, and beautiful spread across the world. After Jesus rose from the grave, Acts 1:3-8 describes him appearing to the apostles over a period of forty days, and on one occasion he told them, “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Within a short time, the good news of God’s love, mercy, and grace spread like a massive prairie fire fueled by a gusting western wind—in this case, the Holy Spirit.
On this first Southern-fried Friday in May, I never thought about flowers being so cherished they were taken on a long, dangerous journey to be shared with future generations. A family heirloom of sorts. Years ago, my husband was given his grandfather’s pocket watch, a device once considered as precious and essential as a cellphone is today. What family heirloom do you treasure?