A Time to Plant
By Susan Vaughan Shumake
March 11, 2020
The gift of life!
The gift of spring!
Oh the joy
that flowers bring!
Oh how I love spring! The rains come and the winds blow. I sit and watch the trees that were barren for winter, blossom and burst into green! The ivy around our new trellis reaches every day to new heights twisting itself onward and upward toward the sun. Each day I gently help direct it onto its correct path. The fragrance of its honeysuckle blossoms is overwhelming and is carried along by the wind, filling the air with its presence.
Palettes of color; bright reds, corals, and purple now adorn old dirt filled paths. Pieces of driftwood that had washed ashore from winter’s lakefront storms are now carefully chosen and have been artistically placed among my flowers. God’s miracle creation of nature continues to bring Him glory, as the wreckage of an old dead tree stump or branch has been transformed into art. An old branch that had lain on its side, placed in a new direction becomes a dancer.
Springtime, even with its storms, is a season of new beginnings. It is a season of planting. Where there is life there is beauty. You, although a little more worn from coming through the winters’ cold, like me, are being brought into a new season. Last year I could not plant. This year I can!
We are being brought forth through our trials and are being transformed as we go, little by little. Our transformation, although infinitely minute in our own eyes, is being gloriously revealed to the Father as we are being transformed into the image of Christ. We are being made more like Him with each trial we overcome and are being changed from glory to glory.
He gently directs us onto our correct path as we reach every day onward and upward toward the Son. The fragrance of our lives as we trust in Him, although invisible to the eyes, is overwhelming and brings God glory as we fill the earth with His presence. Although we cannot see our own growth in a day, in a week, in a month, God can. What seems eternally long to us in times of suffering, is only a fraction of a moment of time compared to eternity.
You and I, we are all colors of the rainbow. Each a fragile and delicate flower, which the Great Gardener, our Father in Heaven, is tending to. Our bodies are pruned of what is unhealthy, that we might flourish and grow stronger and more beautiful in our next season. We are Lillies of the Valley. We are Black-eyed Susans. We are Sonflowers. We are God’s miracle creation, which continue to bring Him glory. No longer are our bodies wreckage, ravaged by disease, but by the transforming power of God, we have been made into His work of art!
An old branch that had lain on its side, placed in a new direction becomes a dancer. I am that dancer!
Sincerely, Susan
