Just Before…

March 31, 2023

Change

The past few days have been spent in a whirlwind of activity. Leah and I are headed out for an extended trip.

The garden seedlings were started a few weeks ago and have been faithfully nurtured with the hopes of surviving while the boys hold down the fort here at home.

This morning, with just a few hours remaining before we leave, I realized the hyacinth beans needed immediate attention.

For weeks, they’ve been shooting up toward the grow lights hanging overhead - and somehow, during the flurry of the past week’s activities - I missed the fact that they stopped getting bigger.

Apparently, the root systems have been spiraling inside their too-small pots and no longer have the ability to push up and out.

I find myself now in a different flurry of activity… repotting. Here, in the busy kitchen, filled with both dirty and clean dishes - regardless of convenience - they must move out and into something bigger (and greater.)

Or they will die.

Why does it matter so much - these seemingly silly ornamental hyacinth beans?

Because THESE particular seeds were harvested from plants my mom and I grew last year together. She knew she most likely wouldn’t see this year’s fruit… and she won’t. Her view will be from a front row seat in Heaven.

But she planted last year so that THIS year we would have fruit.

I feel the pressure of change all around me.

It’s time for the new,
yet, much of the old - I love.

I cherish.

It’s comfortable
and mostly stable.

Especially my mom’s house…

Yet, in just a few weeks, a brand new family will move into Nanny Island and begin their lives where we left off.

AND God has promised good.
His faithfulness sustains us.

If we stay and remain -
where change must be made,
our roots only spiral downward
and we cannot bring forth fruit.

And so, dear friends…
(some also facing and resisting change…)

May we find the grace of God ENOUGH
to satisfy our sadness.

May we find the peace of God SUFFICIENT
to sustain our weakness.

May we find the hope of God forever PRESENT
even in our change.

That we might rise and go - into the new.

Even as the Israelites moved quickly
to follow the Pillar of Cloud and of Fire -
INTO THE NEW AND PROMISED LAND 🔷