July 7 – “The special seeds”

Cailyn spent the night last night, and she is here helping me type this morning.  I asked her what I should write about today, and she quickly replied, “Me.”  Of course.  I asked what story I should tell about her, and she mentioned her sunflowers.  That’s an easy one.  See, some weeks ago she for some reason wanted to plant seeds.  Chris, being the awesome Nani that she is and having the incredible green thumb that she has, was eager to oblige.  They went to WalMart and selected some seeds.  Sunflower seeds.  And planted them in the backyard flowerbed near the house.  They came up well at first, and Cailyn was excited.  Soon however they succumbed to the ravages of two dogs and the Galveston heat and not much rain.  Chris planted more seeds, determined that Cailyn not be disappointed.  These never really came up at all.  Finally Chris noticed some sunflower plants, already established in the vacant lot next door.  That was a no-brainer.  She dug three up and transplanted them in our bed.  They, of course took hold immediately, and before long Cailyn was tracking their growth, higher and higher, until they got taller than the house.  Every time she came over, Cailyn watered the plants and stood amazed at how tall they actually were.  Not long after they reached their peak height, the flowers began to burst forth.  Bright yellow petals around the black center.  Needless to say, Cailyn was thrilled.  And Nani stood by knowingly, smiling at the growth in the ground and in the granddaughter.  Nannies are like that, you know.

But that seems pretty boring, for a story, you know?  Let’s try it this way:

Once upon a time there was a young princess named Cailyn who loved flowers.  She liked all kinds of flowers, of course, but her favorite was the sunflower.  “I like them because they are so tall,” she told her grandmother, the Queen.  “They can actually reach up to the sky and they have roots that hold them tight to the ground.  And the flowers have yellow petals with sunflower seeds in the middle.  The seeds grow when they have water and soil and sunshine.” 

The Queen was quite a gardener in her own right, and she smiled knowingly at the enthusiasm of the young princess.  And as soon as the time was right, she took the young maiden outside to find just the right place to plant the special seeds she had been saving for just such an occasion.  The queen and the princess pulled on their gloves and dug with their spades and soon the special seeds were nestled firmly into the soil.  Cailyn watered the ground well, and then the waiting began.

Now princesses have many other duties to attend to than just caring for newly planted seeds.  She has to practice writing her name and playing with the royal dogs, Scooter and Abby, and squealing with delight at the antics of the royal ferret, Lolly-Lolly (her middle name is Lolly, too) and royal fish, Sushi.  There is a cat the visits most days as well.  Her name is Olive.  She has to practice dressing up in princess gowns and wearing high heels and even putting on make-up for that day when she meets her handsome prince.  And of course she has to practice dancing.  She must be ready for the ball when that day comes.  Her days are so full of activities that she barely has time to water the seeds, and sometimes she forgets to think about them at all.  But the Queen Nani never forgets. 

Oh, there are days when those scoundrel puppies Fritz and Heidi sneak away and playfully trample through the royal gardens.  In fact one day they took a nap right on top of the seeds Cailyn had planted.  Queen Nani was there to shoo them away, but she knew a secret about those seeds, one that she had never told anyone else.  And she wasn’t worried.  See, these seeds has the ability to grow underground.  Those roots that held the plant tightly to the ground could also travel on and on until they found a suitable place to burst forth into the sunshine.  And Queen Nani had already seen.  Far away from the napping places of tired little puppies, off in the distant reaches of the neighboring field called Forty Steps (A strange name I know, and there is indeed a wonderful tale that explains it, but that is a story for another time), the queen had seen three tiny shoots struggling to break through the sandy soil.  And she watched.  And waited.

Time went by.  Cailyn busily attended to her princessly duties.  Queen Nani had official duties as well, but she never forgot those magical seeds and the young plants now pushing forth leaves and getting taller.  And when the time was just right, she grabbed her gardening gloves and made a secret trip to Forty Steps.  Carefully gathering the plants into her arms, she snuck back into the palace grounds and replanted them, right in the spot they had begun when the princess had so eagerly planted her seeds. 

This time the plants stayed around.  And they grew.  And they grew.  And they grew.  And one day Princess Cailyn came to see the Queen.  And together they decided to check on the progress of those special seeds.  As they rounded the corner, the princess stopped dead in her tracks.  Her mouth came open in a soundless squeal of delight and her hands leapt to her cheeks in surprise.  There, right in the very spot she had planted the seeds were some real plants.  And they were tall, almost as tall as she was.  There were no flowers on them yet, but that would come later.  The seeds were growing.  Cailyn was renewed in her excitement.  She promised to come regularly to help water.  The Queen called for the court photographer to capture the moment.  And once again, the waiting began.

After that day, Cailyn came by often, and the court photographer chronicled the days with a picture by the plants.  And the plants grew and grew until one day, when they were taller than Cailyn herself, she noticed something different.  There, near the top of each plant, was a tiny bud.  It didn’t take long for those buds to get fuller and fuller until one day they burst open to reveal a beautiful sunflower, with bright yellow petals and black seeds in the middle, just as Cailyn had predicted.  The princess was delighted.  But the growing didn’t stop there.  I did say that these were special seeds, didn’t I?  Before long the plants reached to the top of the palace itself.  And more and more of the yellow flowers began to pop open.  They created a canopy of yellow and green that provided shade for the royal walkway.  Cailyn grinned broadly whenever she walked under it.  And Queen Nani stood by knowingly, smiling at the growth in the ground and in the granddaughter.  Queens are like that, you know.  And so are Nannies. 

Psalms 98:4-6 says, “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn — shout for joy before the Lord, the King.”

Father, thank you for princesses and queens and granddaughters and Nannies.  Amen.