Trusting God in Your Season

To everything there is a season and a purpose under heaven.

Ecclesiastes 3:1

My grandmother lived on a corner lot and had a garden that everyone in town admired. People actually slowed their cars just to see the colors and the sheer beauty. I loved walking through her roses in spring, eating her juicy grapes in summer, and picking apples from her tree in the fall.

Then one November afternoon, I came running inside in tears. The rose bushes looked like dry twigs. The grapevine had withered. The flowers were cut to the ground. “Grandma, what happened?!”

With the patience only a grandmother has, she walked me through every inch of that garden and explained what she was doing and why. Without that pruning, the fruit would get smaller and fewer. The roses needed time to strengthen their roots to prepare for spring blossoms.
I never forgot that lesson. The older I get, the more I see it playing out, not in gardens, but in us.

G: Ground Yourself in Spring

There is nothing quite like spring. Something wakes up when the snow melts, and the warmth awakens new growth and blossoms.  The joy of spring is possibility. The challenge is follow-through. The work of spring is preparing the soil and, as the green sprouts pop through, keeping up with watering and protecting them from the storms.

I remember moving to Maryland as a new bride, leaving Michigan behind with a heart full of excitement. But I was met with the reality of loneliness in a strange new place. The tender seeds of expectation were threatened. The storms of fear and doubt crept in and swept the joy right out of that season. I needed to seek and trust God’s plan in this new place.

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