Flower Power

I really need some flowers in my life right now. I stand and look out my front window at a shoulder high pile of snow. Last summer in that very spot a flock of golden daylilies bloomed. It was amazing. There were so many flowers the color of sunshine that they glowed. Neighbors whom I rarely talked to would stop and tell me how beautiful my flowers were, how much they enjoyed them. On summer afternoons I would sit on my porch with a glass of iced tea and watch my kids play in the yard with my flowers to keep me company.

But today a five-feet high mound of snow covers my flowers. I cling to the hope that they are under there--somewhere. I pray that their roots are still alive in the cold earth. They're bidding their time, waiting. Waiting like me for the first warm day when you can smell spring in the breeze. Waiting, not dead, just dormant.

Sometimes in my spiritual life I feel cold and dormant. I struggle with sin or fear. Why can't I be different, more loving and less selfish. I really want to be the person God has created me to be--loving, joyful, patient, kind, but forty winters of snow has accumulated on my soul. Will some areas of my life ever be beautiful? 

Since birth, one of my children has always been much smaller than average. Finally a few years ago we decided to run some tests to make sure there wasn't a medical reason for his slow growth. The doctor's final verdict: "He's just a late bloomer." This sounded more like grandmotherly advice than a professional diagnosis. I wanted a nice neat solution. Isn't there a medicine that will fix this problem?   

What the doctor was essentially saying is that my son will grow when his body is ready. Everything his body needs is there. It's just not quite the right time for him. So maybe the diagnosis should have been "He's just a different bloomer." His body isn't following the path of everyone else's and that's perfectly fine.

I try to think this way about my own life. Some areas of my life bloom faster and easier than others. I think this is a gift from God. Other areas are slower in growing. Each little hurdle is a struggle. I have to realize that this is okay. I learn much in the struggle. I learn to depend upon God, rather than my own strength. When I fail, I experience God's grace and gain the courage to try again. Growth happens in small increments through trials. God brings friends into my life to encourage me not to give up. I'm not a late bloomer. I'm just a different bloomer.

Sometimes I stand at my front window, and as I gaze at that pile of snow, I give my flowers a little pep talk. "Hang in there. Spring is coming. You're going to be so beautiful! I can't wait to see you!" Then I'm reminded of the verses in Ephesians 3 where Paul prays "May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you'll never fully understand it. Then you'll be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God." 

If I want to bloom, I've got to keep my roots planted in the truth that God loves me with an everlasting, supernatural love. God's love keeps me cooperating with the Spirit as He prunes away the dead leaves and stems in my life. His love motivates me to keep striving to become the woman God created me to be. His love is what will ultimately cause me to burst into bloom, bringing joy to Him and beauty to those around me. 

I cling to this hope: the snow will melt and the flowers will return. 

Hang in there, friends. Spring's coming.

andrea