Tulips

I love the promise of spring. Several years ago I saw an ad in the Parade magazine for tulip bulbs and bought 60 for 3.00 dollars. And they even had a money back guarantee.What a bargain. I planted them in groups and waited eagerly for them to appear in spring. Ha! Only three came up. The rest were not even available to be returned, they just disappeared in the soil. To be honest, shortly after I purchased them, I saw an article on the Sunset that said do NOT order but buy locally so you can see the size- the bigger the better. Mine were, in reality, peanut size at best.
Well, this fall I again tried the bulb thing, but with good instructions from a friend. I purchased some healthy sized ones at my local nursery and planted them layer upon layer in a nice pottery pot. Tulips, daffodils, crocus, and I am not sure what else.
Surprise, surprise surprise, they are all coming up. First a tiny green shoot or two but now there are about 16 green sprouts longing for sun to warm them. I can hardly wait for them to bloom.
Jon was a naysayer. He said that the first shoots were not bulbs coming up but , well he was vague about what. But he can no longer deny something is happening.
At times, I have shared my faith and the result seems to be like those first tulips that I planted - nothing. I see no sign of even the tiniest shoot of faith in the person. But then, out of the clear blue, a life puts up one green sprout and I get so excited.
It happened just the other day. Someone called that I had shared God's love with over the years, both by my life and in a notes here and there. He wanted to know what time our church service was!!! I could have fallen over, because in this person's life, there seemed to be no interest or 'shoot' at all. Now I am waiting for the blossom of faith to open. I'm praying that it is THIS Spring.
So, I will just keep planting God's love and be fool enough to believe for even the tiniest green sprout to rise someday in each one I meet.