Garden seasons
I was in our garden this week, harvesting the beautiful, ripe tomatoes we grew… (and when I say “we,” I of course mean my husband. I am not a gardener!). I spent some time looking at what was still producing, what had already stopped for the year, and what had only a few pickings left. With the changing season and cooler temperatures, the garden was changing.
I pondered how there is a time and season for everything. I was sad to think I wasn’t going to have any more cucumbers or green beans, but the okra and peppers are still going strong. I thought about how, if I got stuck missing what I loved, I would miss what is still good and right in front of me—what God has given me to enjoy and tend to.
I am like that in my walk with the Lord when it comes to my prodigal children. I often get stuck mourning the great loss. I had plans. I had dreams. I had such detailed expectations of what this season of my life would look like, and letting those expectations go is hard.
The reality in front of me paints a whole different picture. One of loss and sadness.
Family life can feel more like the dead green beans and cucumbers. Nothing left. Gone for the season. Cut down and put in the compost pile.
But I don’t think that is what the Lord wants from me—or from us.
I think He wants us to stay in the present. To stay with the growing peppers and okra and enjoy what He has given us right now. There are still many things being produced if only I let go of what was and look at what is.
I can’t ignore the good in front of me because I am stuck on what once was. The living plants still need pruning and care. So does your life.
What can you do today to tend to what is still alive right in front of you?
I can also dream about what will one day be. I know that after the season of winter, spring will come. This garden will grow again. New things will be planted. New life will appear.
The barren season isn’t forever. It is just what it is called—a season. And there can be beauty in it if I choose to see it.
I can stay hidden and sad in this cold, non-fruit-producing time, or I can prepare with anticipation for what will soon be. I can plan and plant hope, knowing spring is around the corner. I can tell people about my plans with joy. I can keep diaries and drawings of what the new garden might look like.
You can do that with your family, too.
You can dream and plan with anticipation for what may one day come. You can trust that God has your situation and that He alone is holding the timeline. Plan the trip, the meal, the love that will one day come with the new spring.
It is okay to look back and mourn the dreams that were lost. But it isn’t where we need to stay. He is inviting you to tend to what is still in front of you—both today and in the future.
He is asking you to see that He is making a way.
“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
Isaiah 43:19
The new path isn’t the one you chose. It may not look anything like the path you imagined. But God is still with you. He is still leading and guiding you, and you can still trust Him to bring new life in places you thought were dead.
Keep your eyes on Him. Use this changing season to rest, learn, plan. Don't dread the winter, but let it remind you spring will one day come.
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