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If flowers could feel emotion, then I think that these must be the happiest flowers around.




From a distance, they seem to be floating in the air...like little orange butterflies.




Can't you just seem them smiling at you?




Eighteen years ago this summer, I was teaching summer school in northern Indiana. It was a small farming community with lots of country roads leading to my destination. One morning, I was a little early, so I took a road that I didn't usually take...especially in the month of June.

Can you imagine my surprise when, up ahead, I could see an orange glow?
My favorite color for as long as I can remember has been orange, so I could hardly wait to see what all of this orange was about!

There were trees growing on both sides of the road. Their branches touched over the road like a filmy canopy. The sun filtered through this woodsy ceiling and made the thousands upon thousands of Tiger Lilies glow!

I felt like a bride walking down the aisle.

I really can't find words to describe how breathtaking it was.
Eighteen years later, I can still close my eyes and see that vision.
That whisper from God..."I love you, Jodi. Enjoy the beauty of today."

Ever since that day, the wild, carefree Tiger Lilies that grow on the sides of the road have been my favorite flower of all.

I used them in the bouquets on my wedding rehearsal table.

I have them planted and transplanted in clumps all over my yard.

I get excited when I see the promising clumps of green leaves coming to life in the spring and even more excited when the stems shoot up with the fullness of a bud on each one.
And then the JOY that I feel each June as I look out my window or take a walk around my yard.

Every summer, I take pictures of the same...but not the same...Tiger Lilies.




It won't be long before I have to say goodbye again.
But it's not a goodbye that lasts forever.
You know the kind of goodbye I'm talking about.

Goodbye for now.
Thank you, God, for that kind of goodbye.

Oh...and if you see some crazy lady at the side of a country road, shovel in hand...go ahead and venture to say hello.
She will probably be smiling.


Enjoying the Journey,