Thankful for mercy

It has been a busy holiday weekend.  I've entertained, cooked, shopped, ridden my horse, checked on my daughter's pets while she was out of town, and made room for a Christmas tree in my living room. 

What I didn't do was pay any attention to the container plants on my decks.    In central Alabama, we make trial runs at cold weather during which we have a night or two of frost followed by a week or two of cool, but not dangerously cold nights.  I collect all my containers in flat trays for easy transport and keep them on the decks, ready to move indoors for a frosty night.  They have already been indoors for our first chilly weekend about a week ago but for Thanksgiving week, they have been comfortable outdoors. . .until last night.

As I said, it's been a busy weekend, so when the forecast predicted we would be near freezing last night, I knew I should bring them all inside.  BUT, it was a lovely day yesterday, in the upper 60s with a nice breeze.  Since I was tired and it seemed hard to imagine that it could possibly drop more than 30 degrees overnight, I just left them out there and went to bed.

Much to my horror, when I woke up at 4:45 this morning, my backyard thermometer read a heart-stopping 27.5 degrees!  As I anxiously awaited sunrise, the temperature dropped to 27.1.  I contemplated running out in my slippers and bathrobe to retrieve my pitiful babies but realized that the damage was already done and I might as well wait for the sun and warmer temperatures to assess the damage brought about by my laziness.

Today, I am thankful for God's mercy.  Not a single plant died and very few of them appear to have any leaf damage.  I promise to heed the next frost warning.