Grow as We Go

Have you ever been to a place that you loved so much, that from the moment you touched down, you knew you would spend the rest of your life trying to find a way back there? This beautiful picture was taken in a field in Jackson Hole, Wyoming when my family took a trip there this past summer, and that's how this place made me feel. This particular instance was a horseback ride, and let me tell you, this image doesn't do it justice: after an hour of riding, you emerge from the forest into this massive field of every kind of wild flower. It was absolutely jaw dropping- like something out of a movie.

My family and I often joke about the fact that "Jackson Hole Emma" is "Fun Emma" because I felt more comfortable to relax when I was out in nature. And while I think that is true to some degree, I think the real truth is that it was simply in Jackson Hole that I was blooming, much like those flowers.

Spring is pretty great, isn't it? All the new life and blooming. It's become one of my favourite seasons for that exact reason. But here's the thing about spring: it's only one season out of four. Just as there is a season for growth and new life, there is a season for reaping, and weeping, and waiting. Maybe you're in that season right now, and believe me, I know what that feels like. It can be scary to walk through a hard season, especially when it's one we don't want to face. I'm sure that most farmers don't love planting seeds as much as they love to harvest them and reap the reward, but both serve a purpose.

The season that God has you in is a lot like that; you may want to put up a barrier to keep the darkness at bay, you may want to cover yourself in armour to fight away the challenge, you may try to run away from your problems just like Jonah did when he was told to go to Nineveh, but let me plead with you now to take your hands off the shoe laces. Put the weapon down. Break down those barriers and embrace the dirt. Grovel before the Lord and get your hands dirty, do the planting, and then rest. Let the ground rest.

Think about that: if we never let the ground rest, then nothing new would ever grow. Instead, the soil would lose its nutrients and become infertile. Applying this little analogy to life can look like a lot of different things though: maybe it's submitting to what the Lord is calling you to, maybe it's embracing the goodness that has been chasing after you for so long, and maybe it's just waiting.

Don't we all hate that word? Waiting. Bleh, gross, gag me with a spoon, I will do ANYTHING to not have to wait. It's not that I'm a impatient person necessarily, but I am a controlling person, and let me tell you, being a controlling person while trying to love a God who is always in control can produce some difficulties. I want things my way, according to the Book of Emma, in my time, and that's not the way the Lord works. When God, the Creator of Everything, whose design is intricate and perfect, the constructor of seasons, was making life, He took seven days to do it. He could have breathed it all into existence in a instance, and instead He said Day 1: Heavens and Earth - this is good. Day 2: Day and Night - this is good. Day 3: Vegetation - also good. And on and on He did this for SEVEN DAYS. Then He rested (Genesis 1). Jesus himself does few instant miracles, in reality, most of the "instant" miracles he performs were in fulfilment of prophecies that people had been waiting on for THOUSANDS OF YEARS! When God made life, He made waiting, and He called it good.

I think that people often confuse the Lord's "waiting" for being "stagnant", when in reality it's quite the opposite. The Lord calls us to bloom where we are planted because in the waiting, God is doing something, even if that something appears on the surface as nothing (1 Corinthians 7:20-24). Farmers will often rotate crops and fields to keep a variety of nutrients in the ground; just because they aren't growing their main crop, doesn't mean they've suddenly lost their purpose. They are cultivating other crops. Our lives are the same way: in the waiting for a relationship, we cultivate crops of friendship and family. In the waiting for work, we cultivate the crop of patience and trust. In the waiting we find our passions, and it is through the waiting that God grows our purpose.

We can find joy in the waiting because it comes from the Lord- just like all good things (1 Chronicles 16:11-12).

So ask yourself: what are you waiting on? And what are you cultivating in the waiting? Are you ready to embrace that season of life, even if it means blooming where you're planted?

Whether you are sprouting up through a crack in the sidewalk or you're in a field of wild flowers, you are growing exactly where the Lord has you for a reason, and that is something to find joy in. It is something to be passionate about, because God is joyful and passionate and purposeful about you and what He is teaching you.

Wishing you all the flower power...

-Emma

"Be fearless in pursuit of what sets your soul on fire."