Where the Wildflowers Grow

Genesis 8:22 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”

I love days in the garden, for days in the garden, are days well spent. It's that time of year where the seeds that have germinated are taking shape into what they will become. The land settles in, enduring the elements and all the little creatures that have so abundantly come to life. We watch the garden steadily, looking for teeny tiny invaders, and healing broken limbs from the pounding rains. The tea is fresh daily in July, and handpicked flowers grace the vase in the picture window, peering out to the canopy of trees. Though it is a time of abundance on the land, it is also a time of looking forward to the days ahead when the landscape begins to surrender to the morning frost. We bundle the herbs, and preserve the veggies, with hopes that these blessings will continue to birth joy in the many months ahead. This is also the month for us when the fall garden is begun indoors.

Every season brings so many immeasurable joys and challenges and I truly know that there is beauty in all of it. Yes, this is a time of letting go, but also of abundance in the present, and the hopes of a dream of what's ahead.

I see the story of God's divine will in every season, and even in a fallen world, the reflection of His unchanging character embedded in the fabric of all creation. The garden speaks so very much to my whole being about hope, endurance, sustenance, trust, faith, stillness, restoration, and miracles.

Have you ever been driving down a monotonous and dull highway and suddenly on the side of the road is a wildflower? It's like seeing a puddle of water in an arid desert or a lenten rose popping through the snow fall in early springtime. The roadside wildflower has grown and endured against all odds of the elements around it.

This world is seemingly growing darker and drier by the day. So much confusion, hatred, unrighteous anger, unholy conduct, unjust "justice", pain, suffering, narcissism, violence, and sickness. This world is like that endless gray highway or that arid desert, seemingly growing void of any real beauty, sufficient joy, or complete peace. Now more than ever, the world needs wildflowers growing in places that appear to have no hope. Wildflowers that against all odds, grow.

Matthew 5:16

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

It is not by our own might, strength, endurance, beauty, or wit that we can grow in the most unlikely of places, but by His Spirit alone. (His mercies, His grace, His power, His light, His beauty, His goodness.) We need Him, I need Him, the world needs Him.

Be a roadside wildflower. Be a rose in snow. Be a puddle in the desert.

Shalom on your home.

- Lea