Look what I found! Orchids hanging from the wedding bouquet my mother-in-law lovingly designed when I married her son 14 years ago. Last week I remembered a conversation I had with her while planning my wedding. She thought it would be lovely to include this flower in my bouquet and that it would complement the white roses. At the time, an orchid meant nothing to me. Now it's a beautiful reminder of God’s hand in my life.
After this memory surfaced I went to the spare bedroom in my house where there's a closet full of keepsakes and crafts, and pulled out a box of old photos. You know, the kind taken on film and developed in a lab. I lifted the gold lid off a small square box and flipped through my wedding photos. There they were, the symbol of what my life would become. At the time this photo was taken, these orchids were merely untapped potential. I still had a very long healing journey to make, and there was still much to be determined.
My journey is made up of these little treasures. Some call them tender mercies, others say miracles. Sometimes so small and seemingly insignificant, they are easy to miss. They are only for the tender in heart to find. “[B]y small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise” (Alma 37:6). When one comes to a full and deep understanding of how the Atonement is uniquely designed for our individual trials, then even the smallest details of our lives make perfect sense.
It’s easy to imagine God is with us in the big moments—happy when we make some amazing step forward, or there to pick us up during a devastating trial. But then the details are overlooked. He is in the details and often speaks to us through the actions of someone else. My mother in law, who opened her heart to me, must have been moved upon by the Spirit, even if she didn’t realize it at the time. She included a significant flower on a significant day that God knew would bring me comfort 14 years in the future.
This single finding won’t bring about any major change in my life, but each discovery adds to the great things that have been brought to pass in my life. Some may call it simply a coincidence. For this moment, it's a whisper from my Heavenly Father that He is thinking of me while I am far from home.