Hollyhocks and Eternal Lessons

Summer is here and with it the full bloom of my Nauvoo Hollyhocks. I was so disappointed last year when all they did was come up and never bloomed. My parents were serving in The Nauvoo temple at the time and mom sent me the seeds she had harvested from a cleaning day in the gardens there. I planted them with a great anticipation and then nothing. Well the Lord says we must be a patient people. Because they did not flower I thought I had lost my seeds as well. NO Flower NO seeds. But this spring they came back and started to grow. I almost pulled them out as they did nothing last year but held off to see if perhaps they were one of those plants that just takes a season or too. ( kind of like me sometimes I take a season or too to learn sometimes.)
This is what they look like today. I am so glad that I did not pull them out. I think that is how we must appear to the Lord sometimes. He plants in us the good that we can become and then he has to wait HOW MANY SEASONS ??? for me it has been ever so many more than 20 to figure out what we are and to " Bloom " in to that great person he sent to earth. If only we could see the picture on the seed packet so we could know what we are suposed to bloom into. :D Enjoy the flowers, summer is here.