Two people vie for the top position on my prayer list. There are a garden of good souls whose needs pop up, especially resulting from the prayer group I belong to. But there is that pair that are repeat prayees. 

Recently, one of them has hit a roadblock. I felt weighed down by the repercussions, rather than lifted up which is how petition is supposed to play out. Then I had a conversation with the other frequent flier on my list in which my concerns simply melted. It was as if a veil was pulled back and I could see both healing and hope. 

I was astonished. The timing suggested, no, made obvious, that God is working behind the scenes, I felt comforted that this beloved person is doing well, as an isolated story. But it gave me evidence that I can calm down on this front, and offer attention elsewhere. Also, wrapped up in my inflated sense of self that their well-being depends on my prayers, I was reminded that God has my other loved one in the cue for a miracle. Not a quick one, but the slow simmering kind that locks the flavors in. 

I have no proof, by the way. Yet there are echoes of past disasters that blossomed into beauty. You may think that "disaster" is hyperbole, yet it fits. You may even balk at the idea that painful events can be the humus for loveliness. 

But as I walk past my neighbors' gorgeous gardens, the ones whose beginnings entailed obstinate soil and dead looking seeds, I have no more room for doubt.