Red Geraniums and Peace Flags

My father had major surgery a week ago and although the surgery itself went well he has had lots of scary complications post op. I am his health care proxy and help him navigate his medical choices and decisions. I never realized what a tall order this was until this week when some of the decisions were very serious. There is so much to do in the practical, physical world and then there is the emotional and spiritual journey that we all go on with an aging parent. It is truly heartbreaking to watch the big, strong man that has always taken care of you become weak and vulnerable. I could write for days on that topic and someday I will. 

I'm short on sleep and good nutrition so today I just want to share a little something sweet about how the smallest things can help us through the toughest of days. 

The hospital is about and hour and fifteen minutes from my house and I have been making that trip 8 days in a row. The hospital is top notch but for whatever reason the actual town that it is in leaves a lot to be desired. It seems a little 'sketchy' as my older children would say. It's kind of sad and depressing in that Mini Mart, I ate my lunch at a gas station kind of way. You see a lot of people who seem pretty down and out and that always pulls on my empathic heart strings. Sometimes it is so hard to have THIS heart in THIS world.

As you get closer to the hospital you have to turn down a residential street of older homes. Maybe built in the 1930's. You can see that it was once a tree lined street but apparently a disease came through and wiped out all the mature trees so now it looks like a new, old neighborhood. A few days ago I noticed one house that stood out to me. It was white and oh, how I love a classic white house. The shutters are black and the siding is kind of like an old cedar shake style. Across the front of the house below some old windows there are three window boxes. They are filled with red geraniums and then a string of peace flags hangs across all three window boxes.

I believe that God is everywhere. 
In all people and places. 
No matter what.

 This little altar of simple beauty reminds me that there are people everywhere holding up the highest hope for this beautiful and battered world. I now look everyday at this lovely little church disguised as a house. It reminds me that the littlest things are often the most important and that we can never fully know the power of our small gestures or how much goodness might ripple out. I intend to drop a note on their doorstep once my father is out of the woods and let the people who live there know the comfort I have received from something as simple as some red geraniums and peace flags.