A few days ago, in the middle of a silver, frozen morning, I looked out our frost-kissed dining room window and saw our fifteen-foot high bamboo shoots that stand along the fence line completely bowed down touching the grass. They all appeared to be attending some strange foliage-only yoga class, posing in full-on downward dog position, pressed over by the ice that had weighted and arched their stalks during the night.
They looked stuck, as if they would never spring back and never recover from this odd and awkward unnatural stance. I was thinking, "Yeah, that sounds about right after the year we have had." I feel bent out of normal shape too, not sure if I or the rest of us will ever fully recover either.
I looked out the very same window after just a few days had past; after some warming and thawing had occurred and saw that those same bamboo stalks were once again pointed straight up to the sky; tall and proud and looking regal once again. They had sprung back! This lifted me up and encouraged my own slumped-over soul. After months of loss and hard news, this was just what I needed to see.
I was reminded in that moment that Spring is coming and soon! Rebound will happen for the earth just like it did for those tall stalks of greenery in my yard. Be encouraged! The barren, grayed branches will soon bud, the buried bulbs will bloom. Flowers will color the world again very, very soon!
God's creation pattern continues as it always has; the autumn shedding, the winter silence, and then the magnificent surging happens each and every year, and this is good. Very good. And, aren't we all ready?
We are ready and awaiting this birth and new life. God is always faithful in the business of making new things come from the ashes:
"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." Isaiah 43:19
We have forged through the wasteland long enough, now bring in the lush! Bring in the new, good thing! Lord, we are ready to be unbent and unmasked, opened and rebirthed!
Be encouraged, know you are going to come out of this dear friend. Like the shedding of a snakeskin, you will emerge afresh. No matter what this year took from you, God is always ready to restore and offer something new. If you stay aligned with Him - the True Vine, you will come forth, bursting through the surface to renewed and abundant life. Rejoice!
Pray for the courage and strength to withstand the final push and for the grace of God to cover you in it. He is willing and ready with hand stretched out towards you now.
And, remember, He makes all things new. (Acts 3:21, Rev. 21:5)
Question: What are you most excited about as you move into this new season? How is God revealing to you a new thing He wants to do in your life?