The other day I cleaned out my flower beds. I have neglected them over the winter and it was time to do some tiding up. I pulled out the old dead stalks, grass and leaves. In my mind I was thinking how pretty they were last summer and how much I enjoyed just being down on my knees hands in the dirt. I am a farmers daughter and I love dirt. The way it feels in my hands. The way it smells, my husband says spring is supposed to smell of branding smoke. To me it smells of dirt. This time of year I get really excited about dirt! Its time to cast off the gloom of winter and embrace the promise of spring!
I love spring. The days get longer and the air warms up. We have new calves being born. I enjoy going to feed and watching them buck and play. The mama cows crunching cubes in the sun. Man and creature just seem to be happier in the spring.
Sometimes winter just seems to go on forever. The days short and the nights long. But winter is necessary. Winter is a time of rest. A time of rejuvenation. Without a winter there could not be a spring.
At times our lives feel like we will never get out of the "winter." Its dark and cold and lonely. We all experience these times in our lives. Something happens, a sickness, a death, a family tragedy, financial difficulties. The list is long. Each person could write their own story about their personal time of winter. Like I said sometimes winter just seems to last forever. The promise of spring seems far away. But that is not true. Even in the depth of a cold long winter. God is working.
As I was cleaning out one of my flower beds way down deep I saw a speck of green. I pulled more old growth out and there they were! The little green tops of some Hyacinth bulbs I had planted last year and forgotten all about. There they were pushing up from the cold dirt of winter. Reaching toward the sun. Each day they have gotten a little bigger and the flowers are starting to open up. In another week they should be in their glory. A reminder that winter does not last forever.
Those little bulbs had stay in the cold winter ground waiting till the time was right. The winter is necessary for their rest , making sure they didn't sprout to quickly. For if they did the harshness of winter would have destroyed them. They had to wait and rest.Sometimes we think the hard times of our "winters" will destroy us. All we can see is the cold and the gloom and the darkness of that season in our life. But it isn't so. What we need to remember is that when we are in our season of winter we are not alone. The Lord is right there with us in all that we are going through. Sometimes He allows us to go through a season of winter to grow us. To make us dependent on Him. Just like those flowers we have to be planted and pruned. All the old growth has to be removed before the live healthy plant can make a healthy start.Then we have to have a time of rest. Resting in His arms. A time to soak up all the nutrients around us, the Word of God. After He has pulled out all the dead dried up worthless "weeds," in our lives, sin. Then He will gently work the dirt around us. Loosening it up breaking up the bondage and throwing out the rocks. When that is done He will water us with His Holy spirit and we will grow and thrive turning up our faces to the Son.
God Bless and Happy Trails
~M~
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