Bloom In The Right Season
Louise Harris
Recent months have presented a very challenging time in my life, including the unpredictable process of grief as well as unprecedented change in a number of different areas.
It has been really unsettling and caused a great deal of uncertainty about the future. The feeling is a little bit like stepping off a cliff with no sight of what might lie at the bottom, or how far it is!
However, I am reminded from past experiences that what feels like it might be a huge fall down is not necessarily that, and our loving Heavenly Father has provided a ledge just below the cliff edge. We still have to be brave in stepping forward but he has provided a safe and solid landing place. A recent and welcome break in Cornwall where I walked the cliff paths gave me a very visible reminder of this.
The comfort for us is that although we don’t know what the future holds ( and this is true even when things seem to be plain sailing ) we do know who holds the future.
I have had to navigate a number of endings and goodbyes recently. It’s never easy but moving forward is essential. We can look back and remember the good times of course but we mustn’t linger too long in looking over our shoulder. We must keep stepping forward into all that God has for us.
However, patience is required - the urge can be to forge ahead too quickly in pursuit of happier times, and perhaps rush the healing and growth that God has in mind. It is a bit like trying to force a flower to bloom after a harsh winter. It needs feeding, watering, and tending as well as time, before it can bloom to its full potential in the right season.
Our Heavenly Father is the best gardener; we just need to allow him to do his work so we can blossom as he intended.
The desert and the parched land will be glad, the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom, it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. (Isaiah 35:1-2, NIV)
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23, NIV)
