“Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy” (Mark 4:16 NIV).

Margarita is my name in Spanish––for Margaret. It’s also the word for daisy in Spanish. On a spring day, I found miracle margaritas (daisies) in a most unlikely place.

Our world is a rocky place right now. It’s hard to see the bright side and the beauty of things during the Covid 19 pandemic. The suffering around the world is heartbreaking, and fear of the virus paralyzes life with lockdowns and isolation. But God gives us hope through His Word and His creation, even daisies.

One misty morning, after torrential rains, the sun peeked out and the rains ceased. My husband and I walked around our mission property to check for flooding. What we found astonished us––margaritas (daisies) flourishing in the rocks. Amidst all the rain and flooding, these beautiful flowers sprouted from a place where nothing should have grown.

When we built our house, we found discarded stones from a city street free for the taking. We snatched them up and made a lovely walk with gravel between the cracks of each stone. Over the years, they cemented into the ground. For anything to grow out of the cracks was almost impossible, yet beautiful margaritas emerged between the cracks.

The flower seeds spread with the wind and rain and fell on rocky ground. That rainy season there was flooding and devastation all around us, but we saw God’s beautiful flowers blooming in hard places.

We may face a rocky road in the next months or years. But, God can bring beauty out of hard places. Let’s plant and water in hard places, so that others will receive His Word with joy. If margaritas can bloom out of rocks, we, too, can bloom in hard places.

Peggy Cunningham

Peggy Cunningham and her husband are missionaries in Bolivia, South America. They work with the Quechua people and have a children’s ministry. Peggy is also an author of children’s books and devotionals. Her latest is Shape Your Soul, 31 Exercises for Faith that Moves Mountains, a women’s devotional. www.PeggyCunningham.com.