Two Miracles

"Two Miracles" 

Judy Royal Glenn Photography 
(an inspiring story of me witnessing two miracles in one day!)

Just this week I learned about a neat story.  A curator, Shelly, at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, knew about my blog and thought I would like to hear a story.  He wanted to show me something in the Iris garden, so I followed.  He walked me to an iris that was budding and about to open.

He told me about the flower and the amazing story behind it.  What could be so neat about an iris in the garden?  This story is of one miracle that turned into two.  The story is special because of a young man named Jason who used to work in the garden. The Japanese iris was his favorite.

Jason was killed in a car wreck on September 18, 2012.  Shelly took Jason’s mom some iris plants and planted them at her house the month after he died.  Shelly told me Jason was the greatest person you would ever meet.

The first miracle of the story is the flower bloomed a year and one day after he passed away, but there is more.  No other iris flowers were blooming anywhere else in the garden.  That one flower stood among thousands of other iris plants with no blooms at all.  To add to the miracle, Shelly said that particular plant had been in the ground at least four or five years and has never bloomed in September (flower is in back right corner near the wall.)

I was very touched by the story and knew this was one of God’s many miracles that He still performs today.  I wanted to photograph the iris and put the story on my blog.  When I first photographed the flower, it had not opened yet.  I came back another time and again it had not opened. 

Today, September 20^th, 2013, I noticed the iris had opened.  I was so excited. The flower was beautiful, and its petals were decorated with dew. I knew the perfect light was coming, and I kept saying, “It’s coming....it’s coming.” I needed to be ready, so I quickly set up my tripod and pointed the camera at the iris. I couldn’t miss this shot.

I set my camera to have a two second delay after I clicked the shutter, so I wouldn’t cause any vibrations.  After the camera captured the photograph, I looked on the back of the camera to see the photo I captured.  I did this several times and used several different angles. 

I realized the second miracle as I looked at the back of my camera.  It had happened without any sound or warning. The miracle was the biggest blessing to me, and I started to cry!  As I looked at the camera, I was in disbelief.  Did I see what I thought I saw?  Yes, I did…..it was a hummingbird feeding from the flower!  Calculate that miracle with numbers:  me setting up my camera on a tripod with a two second delay, me never seeing or hearing the hummingbird, and in those two seconds after I pressed the shutter release, a hummingbird slipped into the photo while I was photographing the first miracle!

I just sat there and cried.  I did not feel worthy of capturing the photograph and said so out loud.  The Lord knows hummingbirds are my favorite bird to photograph.  I believe I can recall thinking how it would be neat if a hummingbird came by and it did.

A short time later Shelly walked up.  He said the flower had bloomed the day before.  

I told him I had been crying, and then showed him the image on the back of my camera.  To add to the miracle, he said he has never seen a hummingbird in the Iris garden!  

He said he was going to call Jason’s mom, and I told him to please give her my e-mail.  I want to print and mat the photo and give it to her. 

Shelly walked away and the next thing I know, he was bringing a few workers to the Iris garden.  I had met two of the workers before and showed them the image.  Shelly had already told them the story of the hummingbird.   

I wanted to learn a little about Jason.  I found an article about the wreck and his page from the funeral home’s website.  I cried as I read the sweet things friends and family wrote about him.  I read about the great guy Shelly was telling me about.  From what I read, he personally knew the Lord, so he is Heaven with Jesus experiencing an incredible life!

I have a link to the newly updated story. The Japanese iris did not bloom in September 2014.  Click here  to view the new photo and read the update.