Purple Roses & Humble Daisies {Part 1}

Today is the feast day of one of the most beloved Saints of all time.

The striking beauty of her face and the profound simplicity of her message have touched so many hearts since her short life and death. She said she’d “spend her Heaven doing good on earth,” and she’s made good on that promise.

As is probably true for many of you, St. Therese and I go way back. She’s my Confirmation patroness, and over the years, I’ve asked her help for countless needs. More than once, I’ve poured out my heart to her with tears running down my face.

There’s one moment of our friendship that turned out to be really pivotal in my life.

I remember the day clearly. I was an overly-romantic new teenager, and had several on-screen {hello, Gilbert Blythe} and in-book crushes. I was pretty much in love with love, and had decided that now was the time — at the ripe old age of 13 — to begin planning for my future married life. {It’s ok to laugh at me; I’m laughing at me too!}

Gazing at the yellow rose bushes in my backyard, I had an idea.

The year before, St. Therese and I had become good friends when she saved my grade on a book report. My family had recently converted to Catholicism, and Therese was the first Saint I had ever prayed to on my own.

She astounded me with the swiftness of her help — literally within 10 minutes of asking her intercession, I had an intro and was well on my way to writing an A+ paper. {The book I had chosen for my assignment was a bio of her life, so of course she wanted to help me out.}

From that day on, not only did I feel a special connection to the Little Flower, but I was also pretty certain that the Saints could actually hear me and were on the same team as me — something I hadn’t been convinced of before.

Now standing in front of my mom’s roses, I whispered a small petition — almost a challenge — to my friend.

Dear Therese, I prayed, I’d really love for you to take care of finding me a spouse someday. So, can you tell the guy I’m supposed to marry that he needs to give me purple roses? Yeah, purple!

I remember smiling to myself, thinking how good this would be, because who has ever even heard of purple roses? But, it’s my favorite color, and roses are Therese’s flower, so it seemed like the perfect plan to me. Somehow I just knew she’d take care of it.

I never told another soul about that little conversation, and I never received a bouquet of purple flowers of any kind from anyone … UNTIL 12 years later, when I was dating some handsome Filipino guy, and he sent me a bouquet of — wait for it 🙂 — PURPLE ROSES!!! 

I just about fell over when I saw what was in the FTD box on my front porch. I immediately thought of Therese and I knew she had orchestrated it.

A year later, I’m sure she was smiling when Michael and I walked down the aisle arm in arm.

It’s been six years since then, and now there are three little people — one of whom bears the middle name Therese — who are also beginning to learn just what amazing friends the Saints can be.

Surprisingly, these days I’m feeling closer to Saint Therese now as a wife and mother than I ever have before. How is that possible, you ask, since Therese was a Carmelite nun in 19-th century France, and my life is anything but a cloister??

I can’t wait to tell you. But that’s for tomorrow’s post. 🙂

*Read Part 2 here.*