I can count on one hand the number of times that my husband has given me flowers. Instead, he grows them for me. When we got engaged, he planted a rose bush at our house. Every year for my birthday and now Mother’s Day, he has bought and planted me a new rose bush. Now our son loves to help him pick out a new one each year. I cut the first blooms of my favorite rose bush- it’s called a Blue Girl but it’s actually purple, which is my favorite color. As I put them in a mason jar vase, I was in awe of how beautiful they were even though just a few months earlier, the bushes were bare and dormant.
I feel like I’m coming out of a long winter season. It started in January, when we all got COVID. Thankfully, it was very mild. It seemed like the wheels fell off after that. I struggled with post COVID brain fog (still not 100% gone) and fatigue. Our daughter was constantly sick from daycare and then shared the germs with us, car repairs, stressful job situations, and doing ministry post pandemic- it seemed like every time we got over one thing, something else would hit. It was hard to see where God was in all of this- He felt silent. I had to remind myself constantly that this was just a season and seasons don’t last forever. The seasons always change. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says “There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven.”
When I looked at those beautiful new blooms, it felt like spring had arrived in my heart. I could breathe again and I felt like I could see things clearly for the first time in months. The long dark months of winter were over with. I could see the faithfulness of God and the work that He was doing during that time. Now every time I look out my window, I’m reminded that He’s always working, even when we don’t see it or feel it.
You may be in a really long season of winter but remember that seasons don’t last forever. Spring is coming.