A Time and Season for Everything

I thought that as I got older things would settle down, and I could slip into the life I had created that I was often too busy to appreciate.  Now that I am in this place, everything that I hold precious and dear seems to be fading away.  

It seems that in the nature of life within the world we live eventually everything falls and crumbles only to begin a new structure again.

Today God reminds me that there is a time and season for everything. I can’t think of a better example then the metaphor he shows us through the changing seasons.  The summer is a time for living and playing within the life we have built; the fall a time to harvest and contemplate upon all which we have accomplished; the winter a time to morn all that we’ve lost, and recover after a time of healing; and the spring a time of new birth and beginnings. 

How many winters must we go through to get to the place where our springs can burst forth.  For each person that time of grief and healing is individual and can have no time set.  But eventfully the bulbs beneath the surface begin to push against the pain, and we can no longer hold them back from breaking through into new life.  We are then once again in the mist of Gods reformation.  We are once again in the flow of life moving toward more growth and beauty that life has yet to offer us. 

How do we get to this point? Not one day or month at a time, but within each moment we can bring our awareness.  Things come and go but as long as we are here, there are chances for new beginnings. 

"How Does Your Garden Grow"

Wow! Hasn’t this been great weather?  Today marks the first day of spring, who remembers the last time it actually felt like spring in March.  My calendar for March actually shows birds eating from a bird feeder in the snow.  I wondered if that might have been a misprint, yet how often Mother Nature has fooled us.  We are all wondering should I change my clothes around, as I write this I watch a young women walk past my house in short shorts and a sleeveless top... hum...I don’t think I’m quite ready for that yet.

Gardening has been in the forefront of my mind.  I am loving being out cleaning things up just being out in the warmth of the sun and breathing the fresh air after a long winter.  Not only is gardening on my mind because of this great weather but it seems that everything I pick up to read is talking about growing our gardens. 

Most of what I see coming up in my gardens right now beside the bulbs of early spring are many weeds.  With the mild winter, I guess they have had more opportunity to germinate.  Right now, it’s easy to pull them out, so I like to get to them before they take over.  I don’t like to look at anything as being bad.  Weeds have a purpose in life just like any other beautiful plant.  I just don’t want them in my garden where they can take over and choke out all the beautiful flowers I plants.  As I pull my weeds and make room for the plants I want, I do a lot of thinking, contemplating and praying.  I think of the many parables, metaphors, and allegories written to help us see the many correlations to simple everyday things that teach us about ourselves.  Of course, the Bible has many parables about the planting of seeds.  My favorite is the one about the mustered seed.  If my faith was simple as big as a mustard seed, I could move mountains.   That overwhelms me because I think I have a lot of faith, but I know I can’t move mountains with what I have yet.  What is it inside of you or me that keep us from having that kind of faith?  I know within myself it has to do with the kind of things I plant within my mind and thoughts.  If I allow myself to get caught up in the negative things, they become like wild weeds taking over all the beautiful Godly things I have planted.  So just like my gardens outside, I need to cultivate my garden within, keeping all the negative weeds down, feeding all the positive good and Holy thoughts so that my faith within can grow big enough to move anything that stands in the way of the peace and joy my Garden brings me.