Springing Forth ...

I love this time of the year...Spring...the weather is warming, the flowers have pushed their way up from the earth, the flowering trees and bushes are showing off with their splendid display of color. It is truly my favorite season!

And, I love to sit outside on my patio. Sure, it’s an old patio but there’s a certain charm about it. It was built by the previous owner of our little humble abode. I never knew him but he and his wife were the original owners of this home that we bought from his widow 8 1/2 years ago. He was a master gardener so I hear. He laid the patio, paver style, in the early 70’s. Needless to say some of the bricks are loose and broken and uneven. Still, there’s something endearing about relaxing on this patio. I love my patio!

There’s also something enjoyable about sprucing this old patio up. It doesn’t take much. And, just like a new outfit can spruce up our physical appearance so it is with a patio. You know like a new potted plant, or fresh cut flowers for the table top. Maybe a new cushion for a chair or new wind chimes or a birdhouse.

Sometimes, though the beauty must be brought from a deeper place. At some point the soil was broken, blended, tilled, worked so that a fragile seed or a seedling could be planted, watered, and nurtured. All of this done with the hope that something beautiful would spring forth.

So it is with life. Our life. A new outfit only dresses us up on the outside. And I love a new outfit! But God is more interested in doing a deeper work. He longs to cultivate the soil of our broken heart and contrite spirit (Ps. 51:15)...these are the offerings that He will not deny.

And when He puts His masterful hands to the gardening work of our lives, breaking and blending the soil of our hearts and carefully placing the tender seedlings of our days and our circumstances, well simply put, breathtaking beauty will be the result. The flower and the fruit will point others straight back to the incredibly creative, Master Gardener ... your Creator.

Oh God, spruce us up from the inside out. Use us for your eternal glory. Teach us to submit to Your mighty hand allowing You to be the Giver and Sustainer of a new thing springing forth in us each day!

Behold, I will do something new,
Now it will spring forth;
Will you not be aware of it?
Isaiah 43:19

Let Him have His way in you, my friend.

Blessings!
Cindy K.