Flowers for her Granddaughter
For her birthday, my friend Katie* wanted to send her granddaughter flowers and asked for my help, which I’m happy to give because Katie is somewhat disabled.
I knew the relationship between Katie and her granddaughter had been strained and I knew why. If it had been MY granddaughter, I’m not sure I’d have done anything to acknowledge her 18th birthday and I told Katie so.
But Katie loves this girl. Of course, she does. She asked me how much flowers would cost, and I said probably $35-40 at a minimum. Katie handed me $40 in cash. She wanted a Bible verse on the card and didn’t want her name on it.
But what Bible verse? Katie didn’t know. She wanted to think about it. She’d call me later.
I needed to order the flowers because the next day was the girl’s birthday.
One of the first flower places that came up online showed an arrangement of yellow roses and daisies in a yellow smiley mug. It was bright and cheerful, and the mug would be a keepsake.
Be Happy® Bouquet at From You Flowers
By 9:30 that evening, when I hadn’t heard from Katie, I ordered the flowers. I added the verse from Matthew 7:7,
Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened to you.
Not only because it’s one of my favorite verses, but because I have a framed picture with the words of that verse. I’m all about doing things the easy way. I signed it, With love.
The price changed a couple of dollars between the first time I looked at it and the time I went to order it.** I wasn’t happy about that, but I was also too tired to search elsewhere. The point was to get flowers ordered in time for a birthday delivery.
All is well and good until I get to the payment page, where I see there’s a $14.99 delivery fee and a $2.99 handling fee. Well, that’s just great, I thought. That’s another $20. Grrr.
Prior to this, I’d been having a bit of fun buying Katie a few clothing items at my own expense, because she desperately needed them, and I could afford it. I’ve begun to understand that when God blesses us with abundance, we are meant to share the blessings with others. Katie, being a Christian, allowed me to share my blessings with her in this way.
But now I was faced with a flower order which was $20 more than she wanted to spend.
Did I mention I was tired? I decided, fine. I’ll just pay the extra $20. Katie doesn’t need to know. I’m not happy about it, but it’s not that big of a deal, anyway.
Then God reminded me that just that day I’d received a $20 rebate check for something I’d purchased. Money I wouldn’t otherwise have. Coincidentally, almost the exact amount of the extra flower charges.
And I had to laugh and ask God, “Is this You working in Your mysterious ways?”
***
*Not her real name
**When I went back to photograph the arrangement for this blog, I saw the price was again different from what I was charged. To add insult to injury, I see there’s an option to pay a one-time fee of $4.99 to avoid delivery and handling fees for life! Was this on there when I was ordering the birthday bouquet? If it was, I never noticed it.
Takeaway: Share your blessings with others, but don’t order things online when you’re tired.
©2023 Barbara Meyers
