07/31/2025
A Porch, a Picture, and a Thousand Wings
Buffalo Gap, Texas
July 2025
If you blink, you’ll miss Buffalo Gap — but I don’t recommend blinking.
We drove through the little state park tucked inside that sweet Texas town, and right at the Welcome Center, we noticed maybe ten or so hummingbirds darting around. Just a few — like they were lingering behind, not quite ready to move on. The cactus was thick and wild — blooming everywhere — and a few campers were braving the heat, box fans buzzing beside them as they set up camp.
As we rode along, I listened to my in-laws and my husband swap stories. That’s when I heard how my brother-in-law trained for military survival right there years ago. Knowing what we were feeling from that Texas heat, I could only imagine.
But the part I can’t shake came later, when we stepped onto the old wooden porch of the hardware store in town. The boards creaked under our feet, and the front door gave a good squeak when we opened it — the kind that tells you it’s got history. Right inside, my eyes landed on a crayon drawing taped to the fridge. I smiled and said, “Oh, what a cute picture!” And the woman behind the counter lit up and said, “Thank you — my child drew that for me.”
We wandered the aisles, slow and curious. T-shirts, coffee mugs, bird feeders… the kind of place where everything makes you smile. My father-in-law struck up a conversation with a man about the w**d killer he’d just bought, and I stood there thinking, Why on earth did I wear these white tennis shoes out here? They were dusty by then — just like everything else in Texas. But they were earning their story.
And because I’m me — not because I’m Southern, but because I love people and stories — I struck up a conversation with that sweet woman at the counter. I asked her about the hummingbirds. I said, “We saw several of them at the feeders near the Welcome Center. Is this their season to come through?”
She smiled and said, “Oh, y’all just missed it.” Then she told us something I’ll never forget.
There’s a woman right there in Buffalo Gap, in her 90s now, who’s been putting out hummingbird feeders for over 70 years. And because of her steady love for those tiny birds, her home is now a marked stop on the hummingbird migratory map. Thousands — and I mean thousands — of hummingbirds show up each season to rest, refuel, and move on.
Later that day, my mother-in-law and I went on a little adventure to find that house. We think we spotted it — an old white house with a wide, welcoming porch. It looked like a place worth stopping. It looked like home.
And that’s what’s stayed with me.
Because she didn’t start feeding those birds to be noticed. She didn’t set out to make a mark. She just did what she loved. Faithfully. Quietly. And now, heaven and creation both show up at her front porch.
“And let us not grow weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
— Galatians 6:9
So whether you’re feeding birds, raising babies, praying over people, or walking dusty roads in your white sneakers — keep going. Keep watering what matters.
Because love leaves a legacy. And the fruit always comes.💜
