Last week, I wrote about Testing in Progress. Unfortunately, I cannot say that things have really gotten easier in the last week, but I’ve learned something new along the way.
Psalm 1:1-3 (NIV): Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on His law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, who yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither–whatever they do prospers.
I was studying this passage because of something I’d heard on K-love radio, and though it was familiar to me, I love how God highlighted a new thing in a different season.
These verses highlight instructions for right living, where we should be keeping our focus at all times. A person who keeps their focus on the Lord is likened to a tree planted by water. Such a tree has a source of water in all seasons of its life, the winter seasons as well as the summer seasons.
The part that stuck out to me this time was this: “who yields its fruit in season.”
My son has been asking a lot recently, “Mommy, when is it gonna get warmer?” He’s looking forward to consistent warmer weather so that he can play outside more. And I have to keep reminding him that we cannot hurry summer, that winter plays its part too. (Yes, he’s 5 and doesn’t fully understand me, but that’s okay.)
The tree planted by the water isn’t free from the restrictions of the seasons just because it has roots that easily access water year-round. In the same light, we are planted in the Spirit year-round, but still find ourselves subjected to the changes and limitations of the seasons of life. We will have seasons of explosive growth and blooming and growing fruit. We will also have seasons where we shed our leaves and appear dormant. And at the end of the day, we need both.
Continual growth will burn us out. Sometimes that winter season is actually an invitation to rest and renew. They say a super cold winter is actually good for the farmland, helpful to the soil for the next growing season. It may not be a fun time for us, but may I suggest that we may grow and bloom all the more fruitfully in the next season after enduring such a cold winter?
Because our roots are planted in the water (the Spirit), we can endure the coldest winters and the hottest summers. He shows Himself faithful in every season of our lives, providing for our needs no matter what.
If you find yourself in that season of testing, when there doesn’t seem to be growth, you are still planted in the Spirit and can endure. If you are growing and bearing fruit, you are still planted in the Spirit and will endure. No matter the current season, you will find yourself cycling through others soon enough. What matters is your roots.
Are you rooted in the Spirit? Even dormant trees draw from the source when nothing appears to be happening on the surface. Do not despair, friends. Each season will arrive in its time. Stay rooted in Him.
Blessings,
~Lynne
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