Twenty years ago, when my husband and I began putting in a yard and designing flowerbeds, we designated one location exclusively for roses. After walking around the house numerous times and watching the movement of the sun throughout the day, we chose a spot in our yard that gets a nice dose of afternoon sunshine. We knew the blooms would appreciate the warmth. We then headed for a local nursery, charmed by the abundance of colors and names like President Lincoln, Queen Elizabeth, John F. Kennedy and Lucille Ball. Eventually we set our bushes in the ground, envisioning the day we would see blooms through the bay window in our dining room. It seemed like a nice touch, bringing the outside in.

This week as I vacuumed that same dining room I turned around and startled at the sight -— nicely pruned bushes topped with blooms so inviting I had to abandon my housekeeping to stand back in awe at what is taking place right there, in the back of the house that rarely catches my notice until summer. My husband had pruned the bushes in early spring and God had sent the rain and sun to do the rest: creating roses to remind me that He is beautiful, faithful, and … well … busy, even when I choose to be way too occupied to notice.

This week I have fortified myself with visions of summer, when the days are warm and long. I’ve looked out upon the gray, the wind and the rain, and pictured days when we are able to push open our windows in the early morning and listen to the songs of the birds and the frogs. To peruse barbecue recipes and plan get-togethers with friends out in the warm air. To cut roses and bring them inside.

Europeans celebrate Midsummer’s Night on June 23 with what Simple Abundance writer Sarah Breathnach describers as activities that include high-spirited merrymaking and lightheartedness. Reading between the lines, I can only imagine such frivolity. There is a message in the budded bushes, ready to burst with color: God is faithful. He keeps creating those buds and growing them in spite of me and what is happening in my life. So it is with confidence that I look at their beauty this week and remember,

I have a friend who is going through a painful divorce, but God is faithful.

I have a friend who has lost his job and worries about redefining his career path, but God is faithful.

My mother is struggling with the challenges of managing rheumatoid arthritis and cannot make the long trip to see her grandson graduate from high school, but God is faithful.

I have a friend, recently widowed, who profoundly misses her husband and his companionship, but God is faithful.

I have a friend whose business is struggling, but God is faithful.

There is no magic wand to take away our worries, but there is a God of great beauty and faithfulness, to watch over us. Let’s not choose to be too busy to notice.