Tag: worry

Treasure Stores

The snow still sits in the corner of the yard, under bushes and in the shade of buildings. Diminished snowmen grace the yards of my neighborhood. It hasn’t snowed for a week. The roads are clear and dry but secret stashes of the snow persist.

Here is the south, this is not the normal way of things. In Tennessee, snowstorms are often followed by sixty-degree days. Or the snow turns to rain before it can accumulate, and rain washes any trace of snow from the ground.

But this snow has stuck around. Even as the temperatures reach fifty, stubborn pockets of the stuff gleam white in the daylight.

I’m a big fan of water. Drinking it, looking at it, boating on it, swimming in it, spraying it on my growing garden. Snow, it seems to me, is stored water, delayed water, water saved for another day.

In my yard, it is not saved for long. I am amazed it has lasted a week. But as it melts, I wonder if the grass growing there is grateful for water on a dry day. I know that further north the snow collects for weeks, even months. On the tops of mountains great heaps of it collect.

When the time is right, these stores melt, and the precious gift of water flows into the ground, into rivers, into fields of new crops.

He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes. He hurls down hail like crumbs – who can stand before his cold? He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes the winds blow and the waters flow. Psalm 147:16-18.

God cares for his earth. He plans for it, protects it, organizes it so that all living things can find their path, their home, their mates. The plants get their rest and then their water. The animals get their shelter and their food. I see the beauty and the design of God’s creation and wonder how anyone could doubt His existence.

God is letting the snow collect during this quiet time. The cold drives us inside; the long nights call us to rest. We, too, can take this time to let God store treasures in us for the future as He stores water in the snow.

There is some scripture you can read today that will water your parched soul in a few months. There is a connection you can make with the Holy Spirit this morning that will bring forth life when your circumstances seem barren in the future. God is preparing us just as He prepares His earth.

The time will come when you need those resources. Just as fires rage and storms destroy, you will face droughts and strong winds. You will lose the power so readily available to you now. So, store up your treasures now. Build your reserves; fatten your spiritual soul.

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:20-21.

I find myself tied in knots sometimes, doubting my choices and decisions, anxious about what tomorrow will bring, frustrated at being forced to be the decision maker. My body heat rises and my heart thumps faster. It is then the cool water from a bit of stored snow-treasure refreshes me.

Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today. Matthew 6:34.

Thank you, Lord, for a cold day in which I can store up treasures from You.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Your Move, God

The sugar snap seeds are in the ground. The ball is in the air; will it go in the basket?

I cut rows out of the cardboard and swathes of dead grasses in roughly half of the allotted space. I buried the seeds in the dark, moist soil, waited ten days, and repeated the process for the rest of the space.

Will they grow?

To encourage their growth, I watered the seeds immediately. To protect the seeds from birds, I erected the bean poles and cages. Now I wait. Stare at the ground, move the cardboard strips slightly to the right, slightly to the left, clear the path for any emerging plants, hope the plants are sugar snaps.

When I planted the seeds, the soil was laced with crabgrass roots. They weren’t finding space to send forth shoots but reaching across my garden to grow beside it. Tilling would have disrupted, cut, and severed these roots. In my no-till garden, I must wait to see if my sugar snaps can overcome them. I must trust the benefits of not tilling outweigh the risks.

I’m a little scared. Isn’t that silly?

I have had sugar snap crops fail before; my world didn’t end. The flooding creek, overpowering weeds, and bad soil have all led to failed sugar snap crops. Nick and I didn’t even plant sugar snaps when we chose to travel during harvest time. Yet, I so want these to survive, thrive, succeed.

The sugar snaps are in the ground, Lord. It’s Your move now.

Only God through His life-sustaining natural processes can transform a seed into a plant. Each green shoot that bursts forth from its shell is a tiny miracle, one I will wait for with anticipation.

The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. Mark 4:26-27.

Is God growing something in my life, in your life, right now? Have you planted seeds and fear the outcome? What if the obstacles are too great? What if the weeds overtake? Should I have done something else, something new, something old? What if I fail?

Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. Psalm 41:10.

Even if I do fail. Even if the sugar snaps don’t take, don’t grow, don’t thrive, God is with me, and I need not fear.

I have faith that God is in charge whether my sugar snaps succeed or fail, whether I succeed or fail. I will do my best, give my best, but His plan is the one that matters. I will water those seeds daily, limit the obstacles in their path, and protect them from predators. Their growth is up to God.

Those little seeds will face challenges. Crabgrass roots crisscross their home, birds watch for the opportunity to snatch them, both cold and heat will assail them. But God has put a desire inside them to transform into all that He designed them to be.

God has put that desire in inside me as well. I also want to transform into all that God designed me to be. I want to break from this shell, grow roots, reach for the sun, and bear fruit. I will face challenges, challenges which will make me stronger if I hold onto my faith.

My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:3-4.

My challenge today is to not be anxious or worry about my sugar snaps.

The sugar snap seeds are in the ground. It’s your move, God.

Betsy