Each year at the beginning of March I begin eagerly awaiting the first blooms of early spring. Something inside me rejoices to see the tiny buds of green poking up and out of the cold soil in which they have been hibernating for months. As a lover of all things green and lively, it excites me – but at the same time worries my motherly instincts that a late freeze would come and threaten the unfolding lives of my little buds.
It seems like every year, around the middle of March, the warm weather ceases for just a day or two and everything that was trying its best to grow and be beautiful has to use every bit of energy to just survive one of those 30-degree nights.
Why do late freezes happen? Well for one, because climate has been an ever-changing variable in every aspect of the Earth’s life, and other than possible preventative measures to slow #globalwarming, we can’t do much about the late freeze. But when has it ever destroyed the eternal bloom of spring? Have we ever had a summer with no flora because of one night that tried to take their glory away?
Every morning after a freeze my mind is relieved to see that the buds are still alive. They’re still charming and growing and I am required to remind myself that those tulip bulbs have been in the ground for many of these freezes, including a solid three months over the winter season. Those dogwood blooms have lived in East Tennessee their entire lives and they have learned to endure the momentary cold and open up again when the sun comes shining.
I am a flower bud. Though my circumstances may be drawing me toward unforeseen death, though certain days I feel that there is no redemption due to a frost that threatened my motivation, I am ever-encouraged in the morning. I have the strength inside me to withstand a menacing freeze. There are truths and promises buried deep in my heart resting in the name of Jesus that, when the enemy seeks to kill, steal, and destroy, I can dig up and proclaim over myself in confidence.
“Because the God who said, Out of darkness light shall shine, is the One who shined in our hearts to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us.” 2 Corinthians 4:6-7
“I am crucified with Christ; and it is no long I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” Galatians 2:20
This is not a matter of behaving like Christ, thank God. I definitely don’t always act like Him no matter how hard I want to. Rather it is the promise that He is in me, and the goal of allowing Him to live THROUGH ME. As a bulb sits dormant in the soil all winter, it doesn’t decide to one day just start growing again. Though I like to think I can talk to my plants to make them grow taller, they just don’t have the mental capacity to make a decision such as this. It is a tulip’s atmosphere that make it come alive and begin the process of blooming once again. It’s the biosphere. The environment.
My environment. My community. My surroundings are what cause me to bloom and flourish into the person I was created to be. I’ve determined to place myself into the smack-dab middle of Jesus heart so that I can prosper and grow into my full potential – because where else would I want to be?
I love spring, but I also love the late freeze. It challenges me to keep pushing forward, and encourages me that I am exactly where I’m meant to be – even if trials and tribulation stand in my way.
“For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” Isaiah 41:13
