Jacaranda trees.

In our backyard at home in Utah, I can imagine all the leaves on the trees starting to change color. My favorite is our burning bush. Its bright red leaves pop against the deep evergreen color of the large pine trees behind it. I love fall. 

Here in Zimbabwe it is not fall. It is summer. When I let my heart and mind turn back to home, it’s hard to imagine sweater weather or putting bright orange pumpkins on my porch. Here where my feet are I am sorting through my closet, looking for linen and clothes that breathe.

The summer season in Zim is beautiful. Before our mission I had never seen a Jacaranda tree. I have read they grow on the California coast, but I don’t remember ever seeing one. Here they grow in abundance. They line the streets and provide purple shade for the markets and people resting underneath them. They are breathtaking. 

One afternoon as I was driving alone, marveling at these beautiful trees God created, I remembered a verse from Moses, chapter 6 in The Pearl of Great Price:

 ‘…all things have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear record of me, both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual; things which are in the heavens above, and things which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth, both above and beneath: all things bear record of me…'

I realize there must be billions of beautiful things Heavenly Father created in abundant generosity, that I have yet to see and discover. Just because I haven’t seen them doesn’t mean they are not there. I remember my elementary school 5th grade class, when we learned about the earth’s oceans and life under the sea. A beautiful eco-system that had always been there, even before man developed technology to explore it. 

In my process of becoming I wonder what other things God created in me, that I just haven’t discovered yet. Spiritual gifts, planted deep, that still need nourishing. 

Who does Heavenly Father need me to become? 

Will I act and search and expel effort to discover new things that might bless me, my family, and the kingdom? Not just the familiar red burning bush, but the new purple Jacaranda tree. It's never too late to learn.

 

I love Zimbabwe in the summertime and I love fall in the mountains. God gave me both. 

I feel His love when I stand in my backyard, and I feel it as I sit under a beautiful purple tree.

'...Let the mountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and dry lands tell the wonders of your Eternal King! And ye rivers, and brooks, and rills, flow down with gladness. Let the woods and all the trees of the field praise the Lord; and ye solid rocks weep for joy! And let the sun, moon, and the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy! And let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever! And again I say, how glorious is the voice we hear from heaven, proclaiming in our ears, glory, and salvation, and honor, and immortality, and eternal life; kingdoms, principalities, and powers!' 

                                                                                                                            D&C 128:23

I wonder what God has created in you and me that we just haven’t discovered yet?