Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Azaleas






Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”Acts 14:16-18

The azalea bushes in my yard spoke to me this morning.  At their appointed time, they bloom profusely.  When the blooming is done for that season, they stand steady in their greenness, still lush and healthy, doing their inner work...whatever it takes for them to produce their magnificent show every Springtime.  This is God's creation of plant life and it gives us the lesson of  healthy growth, in the world around us and in our own lives. 

As I looked at the blossoms nodding their heads in the gentle Florida breezes this morning, I thanked God for that simple lesson.  Life rises and falls and rises again, blooms and lies dormant and blooms again, all the time that we are alive.  I've lived with these cycles all my life as the daughter of a citrus farmer.  The trees bloom in the Spring, producing the tiny green buds that become the grapefruit we harvest in the winter.  In the Spring, they bloom again. Those trees work hard all through the Summer to grow that fruit.

My lesson for today is that I have to have a dormant time in my life as well.  I need time to think, to study, to nurture the bloom, and to finally bring it to flower.  His blessings come in their seasons.  I rejoice in the quiet time and I rejoice in the time of blossom. 

Are you feeling God's blooming presence in your life today?  Leave me a comment and share it with me.