New Growth in Dark Times

Today as I was scrolling Facebook trying to figure out which LIVE church service I would attend, I was struck with the thought that it was kind of overwhelming. Not only that, but three weeks ago who would have thought that we would be scrolling Facebook to go to church. Hats off to the ministers, preachers, and pastors that have adjusted to a new norm just like the rest of us. I appreciate their willingness to bring church to my living room every Sunday.

I settled on the church that I grew up in for today’s message. Pastor Andrew is their new minister. He and his wife Megan have brought new life to the church. They have a beautiful gift for sharing the love of Christ with others. It’s easy to see that they are a team and have been blessed with the gift of ministry. Pastor Andrew’s experience makes him seem older than his years. I think that is why I like him.

His message today was great. I thought it was going to be a real downer at first because he was talking an awful lot about losing heart. He talked about how we can’t even go to the store without feeling like we are about to face an enemy. And then, he introduced the verses he was using for today, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. “Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an external glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

As he continued to preach, I for some reason, flipped to Philippians. I didn’t flip to any particular verse, but to my own commentary that I wrote no telling how long ago. I had written, “God is a master of taking terrible circumstances stirring them so that the circumstances can become a good thing that comes from it.” Now I don’t know where I heard this or if I came up with it myself, but it went right along with Pastor Andrew’s message for today.

Here we are in the middle of a stay at home order with a deadly virus swirling around us in the air, and even though things look bleak and we could easily lose heart, we have no need too. Paul told us in Corinthians that outwardly we are dying every day, but our deaths give us heart if we know Jesus. Our very deaths allow us to look forward to the best part of our lives- the eternal one.

As I am processing his words and the Word itself, I begin to think about my garden. My previous blogs will tell anyone that I love my flower garden. Last week as I was strolling through, I saw two things that surprised and delighted me at the same time. New growth from things I thought were dead. Hence the pictures for this post!

Last year, my son’s dog dug up my hydrangea. It was the centerpiece of my garden planted in memory of my Grandma Winnie. That hydrangea took me back to my childhood because Grandma Winnie always had the most gorgeous blue one planted right underneath her dining room window. I have fond memories of seeing it bloom in the summer.

Nevertheless, I was so mad at that stupid dog for digging it up! (She also got my two butterfly bushes planted in memory of my other grandmother.) I left the root ball of the hydrangea in place even though I knew it was not going to survive. There was no hope for either of the butterfly bushes-even the root balls were destroyed. Imagine my surprise last week when I saw the hydrangea had survived and had new growth! It was going to live! Here I thought the dried up brown branches and dog digging had made it waste away.

The other picture is of new sunflowers that I did not plant. After Hurricane Dorian came through our neck of the woods, it blew over my sunflowers and I had to cut them down. Boy let me tell you, they were gorgeous too. It hurt my heart to have to end their lives, but the stalks had been damaged beyond repair. After cutting them down, I threw them into the corner of my garden thinking that we’d burn the stalks over the wintertime. Never once did I consider that they would reseed themselves.

Both of these plants reminded me of what Pastor Andrew was talking about this morning. Just like the verse says, “Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day,” I assumed that these plants were done for because of their outward appearance. All the while I never thought that inwardly they were being renewed day by day! Now, I have something to look forward to watching them grow and hopefully bloom even during these times of losing heart.

Like I wrote in my Bible, God took the terrible circumstances of both flowers and has given them both new life, which is a #pecanreport for me. If He does this for flowers, what will He do for us? As He loves us more than the birds of the air or the flowers in my garden! Everyone can have new growth during these dark times. Even my beautiful flowers!