Spring is early this year. I read somewhere that for the first time since 1896, spring will start early (March 19 as opposed to March 21). Spring is already afoot in my neighborhood. Brand new leaves are clothing the trees’ bare branches. Fragrant magnolia trees are in full blossom. Blooming Japanese Cherry Blossom trees are livening the once somber looking streets. Gardens are being revived as varicolored flowers like tulips, pansies, geraniums catch the eyes of passersby.
All of nature is singing in a unified chorus: IT’S SPRING!
It’s challenging to appreciate nature’s beauty with everything going on around us. I’d be lying if I said my outlook on life was as rosy as the first paragraph. I’ve been in a cloudy mindset with the chaos that ensued as the COVID-19 virus spreads throughout cities and towns in the U.S.
I’ve been disheartened with EVERYTHING being cancelled, causing all the plans I had for a lovely spring to fall through. I have so little control over my life much less my own environment. And it’s incredibly frustrating.
…and humbling.
I’d been wrestling with my timing vs. God’s timing right before this virus broke out in the U.S. I’ve been waiting on God to do certain things in my life and I believed it was right about time for those things to happen. I prayed one of those prayers that goes something like this:
“God…if this doesn’t happen by (arbitrary date) I will give up on it and I know it’s not your will.“
But I really want this to happen…so next prayer goes something like this:
“God…if you really really said that this would happen could you allow ‘this’ and/or ‘this’ to happen so I can know it’s really you.“
Half of the one of the signs happened.
My confusion and disappointment deepened.
Then COVID-19 hit and ALL my hopes and plans for the coming weeks fell through. Life felt out of control. I became deeply anxious and even more disappointed.
Then God reminded me about what He’d been trying to tell me all along: He’s in control, not me. He decides the time and place ANYTHING will happen, not me. He knows all, not me. He is sovereign, not me.
“For through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.“
(Colossians 1:16-17 NLT)
I was floored and humbled.
I’ve never felt my humanity on such a nanoscale. We truly are dust, vapor…incredibly minuscule in the grand scheme of EVERYTHING.
In this time of uncertainty, the default can easily be anxiety and frustration. I challenge us to step out of those overwhelming feelings and focus on the One who holds this tiny blue dot in His palm.
Surrender. He is in control. None of this is a surprise to Him.
Isn’t it interesting that as humans panic, nature continues to bloom and sing in God’s beautiful symphony called “spring”?
He even started the show a little bit earlier this year.
A Prodigal Love 