Seemingly overnight

        

         I love flowers! One of my favorite artists is, Claude Monet because of his love of flowers. Monet is quoted as saying, "I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers", they were a constant inspiration for him throughout his life. We can draw many spiritual metaphors and symbolism from nature - at least I do. 

       One of my favorite things to witness is the transition from winter to spring. I love seeing the bare branches develop little leaf nubs, and literally over night, soft, fresh green leaves decorate the beautiful trees in my yard. It always speaks volumes to me. It encourages me - we all have life inside us. God is working in the quiet and hidden places of our lives and literally over night the fruit of those workings appear. 

         This spiritual picture really stuck out to me this year while watching the winter to spring transition. Seemingly over night I saw the manifestation of the vibrant soft leaves. My basset hound, Winston, was sick and I was having to get up 3-4 times a night to let him out, give him medication, and comfort him through his healing process. I noticed the leaf nubs on my crepe myrtles earlier in the week, and wondered when they'd unfold. Then at about 3am while letting Winston out I noticed a fully decorated tree covered in leaves. I was in awe. It happened so fast when everyone was asleep.

        For those paying attention and anticipating, we know it was not over night. The majority of work was done behind closed doors, it is only the outward manifestation that came quickly. We also realize the outward beauty of these leaves is fleeting. The wind, rain, bugs, heat of the sun and other outside elements soon taint the soft, fresh and perfect leaves. It's  the inside that counts. It's what's on the inside that keeps us producing life and beauty year after year.

           The same goes with flowers - no matter how beautiful they are, they will fall apart petal by petal and new vibrant flowers will bloom beside them. It's the health of the whole plant that allows beauty to keep manifesting over and over again, not the vibrancy of one singled out flower - the whole plant must cooperate. There is also a season for outward manifestations. If a flower had free will and decided to bloom in the middle of a winter storm, it would be even more short lived. There is a season and time for everything. 

          I'm always reminded how the quiet and peaceful enjoyment of God's creations can encourage us in countless ways.