Beautiful In Its Time

                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Photo by Laurie Collett 2026

On the day before Easter, my husband Richard and I left the house early in the morning, as we needed to prepare for an Egg Hunt that afternoon and Resurrection Sunday service the next day. Both were a new adventure for us in our new church and had awakened feelings of excitement, anticipation, and gratitude, along with some stress and anxiety about how these would turn out.

After all, we were new at church planting and administration, and the Egg Hunt had just been planned a few days earlier when our new Children’s Ministry leader announced she would like to organize it even on such short notice. But we had faith that God’s strength would be made perfect in our weakness and that His grace is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9). Without Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5), but with Him, all things are possible! (Matthew 19:26).

As Richard locked the door and I began walking toward the car, I stopped in my tracks, crying “Wow!” in amazement. In a small garden bed along the walkway, occupied mostly by greenery planted by our home’s previous resident, a stunningly beautiful flower had appeared from nowhere.

“That wasn’t here last night when I came home,” Richard said, scratching his head in bewilderment.

This gorgeous creation was not just a blossom that had drifted in on the wind, but a fully grown lily plant, rooted in the soil, its firm, green stalk over two feet tall. A single, trumpet-shaped flower had opened fully, in sunrise tones of pink and pale coral with hints of lavender. Over the next few days, three buds also bloomed, with the four bell-shaped lilies forming the shape of a cross!

I am always blessed when God speaks to us through His creation (Psalm 19:1), as He did here! The colors and cross-shape of the plant that mysteriously appeared reminded me of the cross against the sunrise background that is featured on our New Life Bible Church Tampa website. It was as if God was reassuring us that He is with us, leading the way (Proverbs 3:6; 16:9) on every step of this journey of faith as we obey Him in opening a new church!

As we prepared the grounds for the Egg Hunt, we were delighted to see two orange butterflies, also like those pictured on the website, hovering over the area, as if God were consecrating this space for His purpose!

The Egg Hunt and Resurrection Sunday service proved that God answered our prayers exceeding abundantly beyond what we could imagine or hope for (Ephesians 3:20), not only in the events' attendance, but in the faithful presentation of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection through His Word, from the pulpit, in song, and in the children’s lessons (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). One three-year old at the Egg Hunt listened in awe as the events of Holy Week were explained, and then asked, “You mean they killed Jesus?”

So where did the lily come from? We realized that unlike a seed that could be carried from anywhere by a bird, this plant must have grown from a large bulb. Flower bulbs do reproduce and spread in the ground, but there was no similar plant in any of our neighbors’ yards, nor were their gardens close enough for such spread to have occurred.

Finally I remembered that about 7 years ago, on Valentine’s Day, Richard had given me an amaryllis bulb. He planted it outside and assured me that it would soon look like the lovely picture on the carton. “Cut flowers die quickly, so I thought this would be better,” he explained.

I remember being a little disgruntled at the time, thinking that other women got beautiful, fragrant bouquets, and all I got was a dirty, ugly bulb that looked like a hybrid of a potato and an onion!

But God knew better, and His Spirit must have led Richard to the perfect gift that would provide exactly the reassurance, confirmation, and beauty we would need seven years later, exactly when He knew we would need it! There was indeed a time to plant, and a time to enjoy that which was planted, even though we would never dream of plucking it up! (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2).

What an apt metaphor He gave us of how the years of preparation, experience and training in various churches, not always pleasant or fulfilling, would one day culminate in His new creation of a church! (2 Corinthians 5:17). He knew His plan for us since before the beginning of time (Jeremiah 29:11; Ephesians 2:10), even though we had no inkling of it until He was ready to reveal it to us in His perfect timing! (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

As He transforms a drab, lifeless bulb into a glorious symbol of His resurrection, so He can take our trials, struggles, heartache and disappointments and fashion them according to His new purpose. But like the bulb, we must die to self (1 Corinthians 15:31) before His Spirit can transform our heart and let it blossom into a vessel suited for His use!

Praise God that He creates beauty from ashes, planting us as trees of righteousness, to His glory! (Isaiah 61:3), Praise God that He makes everything beautiful in its time! (Ecclesiastes 3:11). May we always yield to His perfect will and wait on His perfect timing!

Copyright 2026 Laurie Collett