The Story of the Amaryllis

A guest article by Kristin Hedin

Once upon a time there was a young man who was encouraged to perform an act of kindness. He chose to tend to a garden in his neighborhood. The garden belonged to a house that had been vacant for quite some time, and its bushes and plants had become overridden with weeds.

The young man was familiar with weeding and pruning. He had helped his mother many times tend to her own little garden—a colorful garden with flowering bougainvillea, a variety of rose bushes, and amaryllis that bloomed every March in pink, coral, white, and red. The amaryllis were especially eye-catching. Their blooms were large, and because each flower produced new bulbs every year they had become numerous. Although the garden required regular care and sometimes very hard work the beautiful blooms made his mother very happy, and both he and his mother learned to work with the earth and appreciate nature’s gifts.

So this young man carried his gardening tools to the vacant house and pruned bushes and pulled weeds and cleaned its garden. He did not expect a “thank you” for his service for nobody ever stopped by this house. In fact, his mother may have been the only person to know of the several hours he spent caring for a neglected garden and yard, but when he finished his act of kindness the appearance of the house was noticeably improved.

The young man continued on in his life and even left his home to serve neighbors far away. In his absence his mother continued to care for her flowers, and as March arrived she once again enjoyed watching the amaryllis bulbs bloom.

One morning she noticed the vacant house now had a “For Sale” sign in the front yard. Surprised, she also noticed that through the bushes (which were again overgrown by weeds) there were four or five amaryllis trying to bloom. She had never noticed flowers in this garden before. They looked to be a mixture of white and orange, a beautiful color combination she’d never seen. She became concerned that something so lovely wasn’t being taken care of properly and decided to try to find out who was selling the house. Her concern turned to hope as she thought, “I can just offer to buy the four or five bulbs! Their color would be a beautiful addition to my garden, and there they will thrive.”

That very same afternoon the young man’s mother passed by the vacant house again and suddenly stopped when she saw a vehicle in the driveway and a man inspecting the yard. She excitedly introduced herself and learned that the man was the new owner but would soon be reselling the home. When she pointed out that she was interested in purchasing the blooming amaryllis the man kindly told her he really wasn’t interested in any of the plants and that she could have any plant or flower she wanted. This made her so happy! She returned with her gardening spade and a bucket and began to dig up the amaryllis bulbs from the overgrown garden.

As she began to pull away weeds she was amazed to discover that there wasn’t only four or five amaryllis waiting for her care… there were more than forty! And as she dug up these bulbs she unearthed another thirty new baby bulbs! The flowers had been neglected for so long but had continued to reproduce. They hadn’t received enough sunlight to bloom, but they had continued to live. This young man’s mother returned home with a bucketful of amaryllis bulbs that took her several days to replant in her little garden with plenty left over to gift to others.

This next March she will again anticipate and enjoy the beautiful amaryllis blooms and be grateful that God and nature recognized an act of kindness from her son and repaid her in abundance.