I was ready. Ready to get my hands and feet in the soft warm dirt. Ready to get my spade, and my worm castings, and my birthday garden gloves, and sprinkle all those tiny, delicate seeds across the soil in my crop garden. I was ready to dig and double dig, ready to plan and prep my new kitchen garden off the back porch. And I was ready to put the young pullets out in the chicken tractor, so they could fertilize and dig up a space for the pumpkin patch. I was so ready. It was only February, but the unusually warm sunny days meant we were hitting the playground in a T-shirt and basking in the sun. It was still winter, but the sun’s rays were already starting to tan my pale dry skin. The sun was good for my mood and the play time was good for my little ones, but I knew in my heart, I was just rushing spring.
Just as swiftly as the warmth enveloped our homestead, it left again, making the chilly feel chillier and the wind whipping right down to our very bones. Good thing I handn’t started my sweet little seeds or dug a new bed for the sunchokes. I wanted spring badly, but I had to wait it out. You can’t rush spring. Who would have thought that after the sunny reprieve we would see a massive snowstorm at the cusp of spring. Thankfully not the crippling blizzard that was predicted, but just enough to disrupt work and school and business and to give us all a chance to rest and play and drink hot cocoa while we dried our sopping wet mittens.
Isn’t that just like God?
With all of our technology, and our brilliant minds, and years of record keeping of snowfalls and weather patterns, God never fails to surprise. Perhaps he chuckles at us, dancing and twirling in the warm of the sun in the middle of winter, and gets giddy when we are calmed and stilled by a heavy blanket of snow. Isn’t that just like God?
The One who knows we need a reprieve from the bitter cold and the cloudy skies and brings warmth.
The One who knows we need a few days to just stand still and to spend with our little ones because they are growing up way too fast in a world that never slows down.
The One who reminds us that He is God and He is not bound by our brilliant minds and our brilliant works and our brilliant technologies.
Isn’t it just like God, to be the One whose inherent brilliance outshines our greatest everythings?
And isn’t it just like God to remind us to love the season we’re in. To live fully in the now, not lost in the past or pining for the next thing. To tease out all the good and take in all the beauty and reflect on all that He has done for us in this season He has given us. Isn’t like God to remind me that I won’t enjoy my winter if I’m already rushing spring?
Praise to the One who rules the spring and the winter and warmth and the snow and Who speaks life and love into each and every one of our days.
This is the day that the Lord has made.
Let us rejoice and be glad today!
Psalm 118:24, NCV