Daily Devotional for July 2, 2022
Trampled Flowers
“Oh no!” Mrs. Patterson yelled as a couple of dogs plowed right through her flower garden.
Leah was waiting for the school bus and saw the whole thing. She felt so sad for Mrs. Patterson, her elderly, widowed neighbor.
On the ride to school, Leah sat with her best friend, Kate, and told her what had happened. “Those dogs ran through Mrs. Patterson’s garden and trampled her beautiful flowers!”
“How frustrating!” said Kate. “Poor Mrs. Patterson. We should do something to help.”
Leah nodded. “Like our teacher at church said last week, because Jesus loved us first, we ought to love others. His love can shine through our acts of kindness. I think Mrs. Patterson needs someone to remind her of God’s love right now!”
Together, Kate and Leah conceived a plan to spend some of their allowance money on new flowers for Mrs. Patterson’s garden.
On Saturday morning, Leah’s mom took them to the garden center. “Look at these pretty purple flowers,” Leah said.
“I found some pretty flowers too,” Kate replied.
They shopped at the garden center for nearly an hour, making sure they picked out just the right flowers.
After lunch, they loaded up Leah’s wagon with the flowers and headed over to Mrs. Patterson’s house. When Leah and Kate knocked, Mrs. Patterson opened the door, a look of surprise on her face.
“We wanted to bring you some new flowers for your flower garden,” Kate said.
Leah nodded. “We saw the dogs run through your flowers earlier this week.”
Mrs. Patterson came out onto the front porch. “They are beautiful!” she said. “Thank you. That was so thoughtful of you both. Would you like to help me plant them?”
Leah and Kate looked at each other with smiles on their faces. “Yes!” they replied.
Mrs. Patterson and the girls worked in the garden for a couple of hours, and soon the flower garden was beautiful again. “Thank you for helping me today,” Mrs. Patterson said as she gave the girls a hug. “You girls will never know how much it meant to me.”
Later, as Leah’s mom drove Kate home, she said, “I think you both shared the love of Jesus today through your actions.”
Leah and Kate smiled and said, “Because He loved us first!”
-Lisa Fuller
How about you?
What is something kind someone has done for you? Jesus loves us so much that He came to live with us, died on the cross, rose again, and promised to come back to make all things new. As Christians, when we do acts of kindness for our neighbors, Jesus’s love shines through us. Today, find a small act of kindness to show Jesus’s great love!
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