Azaleas

My parents had these azaleas and other shrubs planted in 1974 at the home where I grew up. In the first twenty-four years, the plants were fed, watered, and winterized. But in the last eighteen years, the azaleas received no special care since my parents had moved. Watered only by rain, the plants still bloomed with vibrant color every spring. These azaleas had attained a height of at least eight feet in spite of weeds and rogue saplings trying to overtake the flower beds. I took this photograph in April of 2016, which was the last spring these shrubs would ever bloom, as the house had to be leveled the following December.
Inspired by Matthew 2:28b-29 (NIV) describing God’s unrestrained love for us.