One of the things I love about where I live is everyone has
a lawn and is big on flowers and good landscaping. But walking my grands to school
this morning it was very obvious from the lack of color all around, that winter
has held on longer than usual.
In the northeastern part of the USA, we are a month behind
in landscaping and flowers, due to the wild winter we are coming out of. And to
top it off, the temps are still basically 10 -15 degrees below what they should
be and 20 – 22 degrees below normal at night. But we don’t sweat the small
stuff because there has never been a year that any of us have not seen spring
show up—therefore our faith is high that any day now—temps will rise to normal
and stay there!!
May and June of last year we had so much rain that the perennials
around our house died months before they should have, but even with all that,
and a harsh winter too boot—they are starting to come up out of the ground.
Yippee!!! When you think about it, they have been through a lot, but because of
God’s natural order of things—they came back! He cares about flowers—you have
to know He cares so much more about us.
When we look at nature, and natural disasters, they are
great examples of seasons and experiences of life.
This past winter it seemed as though we couldn’t catch a
break. Once the kids started Christmas break, they didn’t have a full week of
school again until mid March. And it was all due to snow, ice storms and more
snow! Every single week! Well, isn’t life like sometimes? One thing after
another! Where it seems like we just can’t catch a break? Yes!
But unlike nature that forges on, we can become discouraged
and give up—especially when things start to turn around a bit—and overnight you
find yourself right back where you were.
About 2 weekends ago, we experienced the most beautiful
weekend weather thus far. Everyone was out doing yard work (including me) and
putting out the porch furniture. It was such gorgeous weather, and then—Bam!!! The
following Tuesday we had a frost warning two nights in a row and many of the
flowers folks planted that weekend didn’t make it if they were not protected properly.
That’s what happens to us—we can become so weary that we
forget to “protect” that which is planted and trying to bloom. We stop working
on keeping our hopes high and our trust in God fed. As the days begin to run into
each other, we start to focus on how life has changed and what we don’t have or
what we can’t do, versus continue to look forward to change (our springtime)
and answered prayers.
There was a period this winter when I barely got out of the
house. There was too much snow and ice on the ground to go for a walk, and
driving just to be driving wasn’t an option because the roads were also bad.
And yes, there was the temptation to give into feelings of sadness and depression.
But instead I chose to look at what I had versus how my life had changed.
My grands where home a lot and they were noisy and
restless—but I was grateful I had ears to hear. We had a bad ice storm and many
around us were without electricity or heat (in the dead of winter) for over a
week—not us! Our internet and cable didn’t go out and I was warm, had plenty to
eat, hot and cold running water and 2 toilets that worked perfectly. I chose to
be grateful for what I did have. And I knew this was all temporary and spring
would be here before I knew it.
Well…spring seems to be taking its good old time! Yet we still
have faith it will show up, so we continue to watch the 7 day weather forecast
hoping for good news.
This is the same attitude we must adapt in the winters of
life, when it seems we just can’t get a breakthrough. We must trust God with
all our hearts, just as we trust spring will get here. Sometimes it takes
longer to come, but we cannot give up hope anymore than we do on the natural
seasons.
Sisters, some of us are experiencing life as a season of
dead winter. We are living through blizzard like conditions, where we feel
trapped with nowhere to go. Our resources are dwindling and as soon as we think
things are turning around—another storm hits, dropping more on top of all that
is already lying around. We feel lost and forgotten by others and maybe even
God. Somehow we weren’t prepared for all of this and to top it off, we start to
look at our fellow sisters as they post pictures on Facebook of beautiful
skies, blue oceans and sandaled feet. In other words—their lives look so much
better than ours.
Truth is—we all have our time to experience the different seasons
of life. Today might be your winter, my spring, someone else’s summer and
another’s fall. It’s called “living” life. But when a cold and hard winter hangs
on too long, just like a hot and drought ridden summer can—we must not lose
faith or hope for the change of a new season.
As many of you know there are things we must do to tend a
garden, even during the winter months. So, is the same for our hearts—we must
protect them. If we have an hour to watch TV, then we have an hour to spend
with God. And that is how we protect ourselves and keep our hope and faith
high, (clinging to God) as we wait on our—Breakthrough!
No comments:
Post a Comment