Milkweed in Fall – October 2019
As a busy mom of three with active lifestyles, I spend most of my days attuned to the voices and needs around me.
Today I dropped my crew off at school and took the dog to the river to wander about while we waited for the kids’ class to finish. Usually I am burdened down by one deadline or another so I play catch up during this hour and a half - twice a week. Today I find myself with no urgent deadlines, paperwork, or voices... no shopping centers, cell service - no contact with the outside world. Just quiet and nature.
“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want...”
While it might sound blissful, it is altogether unfamiliar to be alone and still at ten in the morning, sitting by the side of a river in silence with only the sound of running water and random wildlife. I find myself trying to appreciate the deafening silence without the usual barrage of needs continually flowing my direction hour after hour.
“He leads me beside quiet waters…”
In life, I currently find myself in a season of transition. I have spent three years in the same place pouring life and health into a beloved community and last week, my position there came to an end. I have been released to tackle something new. And while I am eager and willing to begin, a clear path forward has yet to be revealed. The deafening silence by the side of the river echoes the quiet within my heart. I await direction. I look for God to make known my next steps… His next assignment.
By the riverside, a giant blue heron stands motionless - thirty feet to my right. He seems undisturbed that I share his space this morning - he seems undisturbed by the lack of hustle and bustle. He tilts his head to the right and ascends… soaring just above the waters with magnificent grace and beauty.
“He restores my soul…”
Along the side of the river’s pathway grow dozens of milkweed pods. While we just had our official first night of fall, we eagerly await the first frost to cause the remaining seed pods to burst open so that the wind might continue the beautiful process of pollination. Mice use the fluff to line their nests while the seeds settle onto the ground. Come spring, the seeds sprout producing beautiful milkweed plants. Monarch butterflies lay their eggs on the leaves providing all the nourishment the monarch needs to transform the caterpillar into the adult monarch butterfly.
As I now walk along the riverside, I am again reminded to trust my Creator. The One who designed the seasons to bring forth growth… knowing that as we pass from one into the next - His work of supernatural metamorphic transformation is possible. Spring. Summer. Fall. Winter. The One who cares for the herons, the mice, the caterpillars and the monarchs is the One who also cares for me. He cares for my family, my children and my community. His work of metamorphic transformation is at work - even in the stillness. In the quiet waiting for His path to be revealed, the wind blows… the seeds fall.
“He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake…”
It is fall. The season where change transforms the landscape before our eyes. When lush green becomes golden, red, maroon and lifeless brown. The season where the growing and flourishing pause and the process of dying in winter begins. As we celebrate the growth of spring and summer, we are keenly aware… the wind blows. The seeds fall.
May we be willing to allow His perfect work to take place within our hearts. To allow any merciful growth and development within us to be broken apart and scattered like seeds for the sake of the Kingdom of God. To take every lesson learned - every seed cultivated and allow it to nourish the Body of Christ.
May we willingly open our hands to welcome in the new season… believing as women of God that He who began His good work in us - WILL continue.... Sometimes in silence, always with grace, propelled by hope, covered in love.
