when we're the whos down in whoville

On a bike ride today I had to laugh when I spotted what has to be the clover flower the Whos live on in Whoville!

Under a closer inspection, this little purple flower provided great delight to my day.

I recently watched Hayward and Martino's Horton Hears a Who--the film version of the classic 1954 Dr. Seuss story. I know there can be great stories hidden inside children's stories, but I realized a new one from this particular one. Most have read or seen Horton say, "A person is a person, no matter how small." Although this moral is good, what I found recently is a little more hidden...in fact, it's on the tiny spec on the clover that only Horton can hear.

My thoughts stem from a great conversation with friends last week--we talked about how often people pray for things, but they usually don't wonder if they're even praying for the right things. How many times do we catch ourselves praying for someone to get better when God's will might be that they come home to Him? We pray for things that we think will make our lives more peaceful, but our peace, contentment and joy lies in hands higher than our own.

During the film, I realized all the little Whos banged on every kind of instrument they could get their hands on and yelped their loudest to save their little town even though they had no idea who was going to save them or what they could possibly need saving from. They had never seen a Horton and they had no knowledge of the outside world. They heard Horton and followed his guidance, his will, in order to save their lives.

So today when I rode past a handful of these tall (extra pokey and tricky to obtain) little purple flowers, I smiled and thanked God for the fun little surprise. I've lived in this town for about 6 years and have never seen them before. In a time when I'm about to move out and head in new directions, I hope to remember to remain in His joy and actively seek out His will.