Zinnias

Every year, my wife plants Zinnias in beds around our house. Zinnias are ideal for this part of the country, because West Texas is hot for several months and the rain is relatively sparse. BUT, Zinnias flourish. And they are beautiful. They are in orange, pink, white, purple--many beautiful colors.

We watch many butterflies spending a lot of time in the flowers of the zinnias. Experts tells us that zinnias essentially originated in Mexico, then slows spread into American Southwest to South America. Zinnia leaves are opposite and usually stalkless (sessile), with a shape ranging from linear to ovate, and pale to middle green in color. The flowers have a range of appearances, from a single row of petals, to a dome shape, with the colors, white, chartreuse, yellow, orange, red, purple and lilac.

Evelyn and I marvel at man-made buildings ancient and modern, like the Egyptian pyramids or the faces of four presidents on Mount Rushmore or the Louvre in Paris. But none of these human "creations" or "inventions" or "productions" come close to the marvels of the Creator of the Universe. God's zinnias are so unique, so delicate, so appealing, so stunning, so inspiring, so transforming.

I hope you spend time with zinnias. These are God's gifts--God's blessings.

Share your experiences. Let me hear from YOU.

John Willis