Hope & Ray Story #12 (an excerpt)
The Late Bloom
Hope squatted beside the raised garden bed behind her house, staring at the tiny green shoot poking out of the soil. It was barely the length of her pinky.
"Still no flower," she muttered.
Ray leaned on the shovel he’d been using to clear weeds from the far side of the bed. “Give it time.”
“I’ve been giving it time,” Hope said, brushing dirt off her hands. “We planted them the same day. Same sun. Same soil. Yours is blooming like it’s posing for a magazine cover. Mine looks like… a baby weed.”
Ray grinned. “Mine is kind of fabulous. Can’t help it.”
Hope gave him a look. “Not helping.”
WHAT THIS SAYS ABOUT STRENGTH
Real strength doesn’t always show right away. Sometimes it grows slowly, quietly, underneath the surface, where no one can see it. Strength doesn’t follow someone else’s timeline. It develops in its own way, in its own time.
