Sometimes God places blossoms in the most unexpected places – on the cactus in the middle of the desert, in the crack on the busy sidewalk or like here – on the scrubby, little shrub in the middle of the winter. This is winter honeysuckle but my family has always known it as Kiss-Me-At-The-Gate. It blooms, with its creamy, pearlescent blossom and heavenly aroma, in the dead of winter usually from mid-January to February. When all the plants around are dead and brown, Kiss-Me-At-The-Gate greets you with its lovely blossoms and wonderful fragrance, reminding you that even in the dreariness of winter, there is always hope for spring.

Sometimes, God provides us that tiny glimpse of hope of spring amid the winters in our lives. When we are experiencing particularly trying times and feeling the weariness of the world, God sometimes sends some person to remind us that there will be better times – just like those winter blossoms, these people point us toward spring and renewal. Recently, I have had several winter blossoms burst into my life.

In a recent post, I told you about the winter blossom that came form my little buddy “Paul”. If you missed it, go to the Deluged… post and skip to the end of the post to read about it – I’ll wait.

This week one of my winter blossoms was Marti, a lovely lady on one of my sock knitting groups who sent me the most encouraging email out of the blue. When you are writing a blog, sometimes you wonder if anyone actually reads it. Marti does and she took the time this week to tell me. She will never know how much she encouraged me with her kind words.

Another blossom came from Patricia who has said some very kind things about my website and blog on her own blog. I am humbled by her kindness and warmth. And I am strengthened by her encouragement.

Still another winter bloom came from my friend Jerry. I knitted Jerry a pair of socks many months ago when he was in the hospital – think of it as a prayer shawl for your feet. I was chatting with him and his wife Janice Sunday about their new granddaughter when out of the blue Jerry started telling me how much he had been enjoying those socks and hinted that he might need another pair. What a wonderful feeling to know that something you made with your hands was appreciated by the person for whom you made it. I honestly didn’t know if he would ever wear them. I knitted them mainly because it was the only thing I could think of to do for him at the time. He was having major surgery, we were all very worried about him and I wanted to do something besides pray for him. Since I am a knitter, I knit while I prayed for him and when I was through praying a pair or socks in the colors of his favorite sports team popped off the needles (it wasn’t quite that miraculous but the knitters out there will understand). I am happy to report that Jerry has completely recovered and apparently wears the socks all the time. Yes, there is another pair in his future.

A final winter blossom I would like to share came from my kids – affectionately known as “The Varmints”. Today has been a very gloomy day with the threat of storms in the air. After breakfast this morning, they presented a play for me. It was a restaurant scene based on that classic dilemma of finding a fly in ones soup. It was quite humorous – especially considering how old the fly-in-my-soup gag is. I really needed a good laugh this morning.

So how about you? Have you experienced any Winter Blossoms lately? The January blog contest is quite simple. Share a winter blossom in the comments and your name will be entered into a drawing for a mug, an assortment of tea and cocoa and whatever other goodies I come up with by the end of the month. Add a link to your blog or website and I will include your name twice. You have until midnight January 31st to leave your comment. The winner will be chosen at random and the name will be posted here and on Tabitha’s Heart & Hands. The winner will then have one week to email me their snail mail address for sending the prize.