Spring has begun to show itself here in Texas and, although the winter has been mild, it\u2019s a welcome friend. I love Spring with every part of my being.\u00a0 I love the fragrance of fresh-cut grass, newly budding flowers and spring rains.\u00a0 I love the vibrant colors of our Texas sunsets and the various shades of green earth against the bright blue sky. I love the sound of birds in the morning, children laughing in a park, and lawn mowers humming. And, I love the feel of the sun on my skin that assures me Spring will always come.<\/p>\n
No matter how long the winter.<\/p>\n
This affinity for Spring is in my blood.\u00a0 My Nanny was a gardener with a green thumb that I can only dream of having.\u00a0 Her yard is still one of my favorite childhood memories. It has become something of a fairytale in my mind. \u00a0A place of beauty and wonder that seemed larger than life.\u00a0 Much larger than I\u2019m sure it was. \u00a0Every Easter, my Papaw would take me to the little town of Many, Louisiana to buy a new dress at the \u201c5 and Dime\u201d store so I could wear it to Hodges Garden’s Sunrise Easter service. I was so small that I barely remember more than putting on my new dress and patent leather shoes, falling asleep in the car and waking to the sound of hymns and the warmth of the sunrise over the most beautiful field of azaleas that you can imagine. Spring memories could go on and on in my mind\u2026sitting on the back of my daddy\u2019s bike and riding through Audubon Park\u2026pulling up sprigs of grass and little white flowers off our shrubs to make my mom a homemade Easter corsage\u2026hunting for eggs after church\u2026crawfish boils\u2026family picnics with chips, cokes and bologna sandwiches at roadside parks on road trips.<\/p>\n
Spring is full of life to me.\u00a0 Feeling it, smelling it, seeing it, hearing it, tasting it, living it but, most importantly, realizing after a long winter that it always comes.<\/p>\n
Life that is.<\/p>\n
As I sit on my porch for the first time this year and watch the birds at my feeders, I\u2019m grateful for the fact that winter can never stop spring from coming.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that I hate winter.\u00a0 It\u2019s a needed part of life and, to be brutally honest,\u00a0winter makes spring so much more beautiful.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Not just because we appreciate it more after long months of darkness although that\u2019s true but because a hard winter actually does something deep in the earth that causes plants to be stronger and more vibrant and pests to be less pervasive and destructive. Winter can seem hopeless at the time but there\u2019s a rhyme and reason to it. There truly is a purpose for each season – even if it\u2019s difficult to see at times.<\/p>\n The concept that each season has a purpose that prepares us for the next season is not an earth shattering one. I\u2019m sure it isn\u2019t new to you either. But I feel compelled to acknowledge how this last year has chiseled this truth down deep into my soul. My faith has been strengthened as I’ve seen God’s faithfulness in bringing about each season at just the right time and for his perfect purposes. It\u2019s also grown a passion in me to be actively involved in each season of life and to make each as productive as humanly possible.<\/p>\n What I mean is…I want to be<\/strong>\u00a0a\u00a0gardener<\/strong>. I want to work the soil of my life in such a way that God is glorified when Spring comes.\u00a0 We aren\u2019t called to a passive life of tentatively pursuing or obeying God while we wait to see what happens.\u00a0 Granted, we don\u2019t know what\u2019s coming in our lives, but we can know that something is coming. Winter always does.\u00a0It\u2019s a necessity of life.\u00a0 It can take many forms, but we can\u2019t avoid it. It may be that life simply gets dark, cold or dull. It may mean that we experience hopelessness, death, sorrow or pain. Whatever it may be, at some point, we will always encounter winter.\u00a0BUT we also encounter spring, summer and fall. God is so gracious in that way. The question is, will we make the most of the time we have in each?<\/p>\n Proverbs 6:6-8 says\u00a0\u201c<\/strong>Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones.\u00a0 Learn from their ways and become wise! Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter.<\/strong><\/em>\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0Proverbs 20:4 says it like this,\u00a0\u201c<\/strong>Those too lazy to plow in the right season will have no food at the harvest<\/strong><\/em>.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n The truth of the statement \u201cGod prepares and provides for our future trials today\u201d has been revealed to me as I\u2019ve seen how past obedience resulted in a solid foundation that has sustained me in my storms. Yes, he is a gracious and merciful God who often gives us what we need even when we have turned a deaf ear to the Spirit; but preparation and provision for the winter often come through the work done in the summertime of our lives.<\/p>\n Summer is a time of hard work! If you\u2019ve ever had a garden that you\u2019ve started from seed or planted by hand you know how difficult it can be. Tilling up hard ground, pulling up all sorts of stuff you don\u2019t want to grow, adding fertilizer to prepare the soil\u2026it\u2019s backbreaking and exhausting.\u00a0 On top of that, it\u2019s SLOW! As you wait to see the first sign of growth peeking up through the dirt, you can start to wonder if anything is happening.\u00a0 Then, once things start to grow, it\u2019s still a long process of weeding, fertilizing and waiting to see the fruit of your labors. That\u2019s our part in the process. God is in charge of the growth and the timing, but we have the responsibility and privilege to get our hands dirty in the endeavor. And we get to feel the joy that comes in the harvest.<\/p>\n Speaking of harvest\u2026I love that season too.\u00a0 I love the feeling of accomplishment that comes with picking, eating and canning the fruit of the summer.\u00a0 Of shorter days and cooler nights spent with family around the table eating fresh vegetables and having long talks.\u00a0 We don\u2019t seem to anticipate the winter in the fall.\u00a0 I mean, we know it\u2019s coming at some point, but I never really know when or how bad it will be.\u00a0 So, my focus is on the moment and on enjoying what God has provided. I seldom think of what I\u2019ll be facing in a few months; unlike my grandparents who had a keen awareness of their need to be prepared for the winter. My ability to run to Wal-Mart for food in December has stripped the power from the meaning behind this concept of preparation. Or, at least, it\u2019s lessoned the urgency of it for me. However, spiritually speaking, the urgency is there and the importance of preparing our hearts during the summer and autumn of life so that we can face the winter can\u2019t be stressed enough.\u00a0 It\u2019ll keep us going when life seems overwhelming.\u00a0 It will keep hope in our hearts, breath in our lungs and warmth in our souls when all we see is death, fear and darkness.<\/p>\n We may not realize what God is planting during the long, hot days of summer as we obediently spend time in His word, cultivate community, seek to know him in prayer and ruthlessly deal with sin but it will prove to be exactly what we need.\u00a0 The fruit that we finally see produced in our lives as we desire his will above our own and as He lavishly pours out grace and blessing over us will become the very thing we offer as a blessing to others in our darkest days. All the time spent growing to know and love our Father will sustain that love when all we have are questions.\u00a0 During my own personal winter God spoke these verses deep into my soul as an encouragement and a prayer to make the most of every season.<\/p>\n “But they delight in the law of the Lord,\u00a0meditating on it day and night. \u00a0They are like trees planted along the riverbank,\u00a0bearing fruit each season.\u00a0Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.” \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Psalm 1:2-3<\/p>\n I want to live my spring and summers in such a way that I bear fruit, of some sort, in the winter. (Even if it\u2019s just to continue wanting to continue when all I really feel like doing is giving up). \u00a0I hope that my faith in His goodness and kindness is never eclipsed by my own suffering and heartache.\u00a0I desire to relish and know his healing and hope in the spring, his life and joy in the summer and his provision and connection in the fall so that fear is thoroughly killed and love, faith and trust survive and thrive during whatever winters lie ahead.<\/p>\n Because I know this to be true\u2026. Spring will always come.<\/p>\n One way or another\u2026life will break through the darkness in Technicolor beauty that touches every one of my senses. I will be grateful for the chance to partner with Christ, in some small way, as an apprentice gardener to this world around me that He has planted and tended so lovingly. And God will remind me of His limitless creativity and passion to bless me in countless ways as I sit in awe of His ability to revive, restore and resurrect.<\/p>\n All for His glory.<\/p>\n Holy Bible<\/em>\u00a0New Living Translation, copyright \u00a9 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188, USA. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Spring has begun to show itself here in Texas and, although the winter has been mild, it\u2019s a welcome friend. I love Spring with every part of my being.\u00a0 I love the fragrance of fresh-cut grass, newly budding flowers and spring rains.\u00a0 I love the vibrant colors of our Texas sunsets and the various shades […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,7],"tags":[52,141,182,186,249,274,331,433,434,472,490,536,537,559,594,625],"class_list":["post-1196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith","category-reflections","category-seasons","tag-blessing","tag-difficulties","tag-faith","tag-fall","tag-growth","tag-hope","tag-life","tag-preparation","tag-prepare","tag-revive","tag-seasons","tag-spiritual-disciplines","tag-spring","tag-summer","tag-trust","tag-winter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}