Photo and Commentary (c)2023 by Cheryl Boardman
Monday, May 22, 2023
This little orchid is a calypso bulbosa (also called a fairy slipper). They can be abundant in certain locations in the Pacific Northwest in April or May (depending on the elevation) but you kind of need to know where to look for them. You might just literally stumble on them or your eyes may be drawn to their bright color. The plant is small (3-7 inches in height) but once you’ve found where they grow, you can keep going back year after year and find them in the same place – if nobody has picked them (don’t pick wild orchids).
They only bloom for a very short time so you generally have a short window of opportunity. You also have to be paying attention. I pointed some out to a couple who were walking along a road close to where I found this one. They had already passed the one in the picture, which was growing on a bank and closer to eye height, and hadn’t noticed the other orchids that were growing close to the road.
I love looking for wildflowers and they are always a reminder that a God who pays such attention to beauty and details in these flowers, also cares for us.
If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
Matthew 6:30-33 (The Message)