Of Dandelions and Hope by Christie Lambert

Of Dandelions and Hope

It was easy to become weary of winter this year. Darkness fell early, quick and heavy. Grass was brown and dry beneath my feet, trees reached bare branches up and out like they, too, were anxiously waiting for garments of new growth. Spring, summer, and fall always seem to pass so quickly with their tides of color and change…but winter felt long, lasting. The days all looked the same and I began to ache for buds of new life on the bushes that lined my house, long dusky evenings, green and sweet scents.

So days like this one, with the sun shining bright, are most welcome. I don’t take these warm near-to-summer days for granted after a winter of longing for short sleeves and flip-flops. We skipped outside into afternoon warmth after lunch and my daughter was surprised by two treasures –dandelions, one still yellow and one a “wishing-flower”. She bent over and picked the white fluff, blew the seeds into the breeze and ran off with her laughter trailing up to the sky alongside dandelion-wish-pods.

The dandelion reminded me that winter does come to an end– below and beyond the surface of winter-hibernation, the Author of creation readies nature for its next season. By His hands, it is all prepared…animals are guided and seeds ripened deep in soil….even while everything still looks dark and cold on the surface, everything the earth needs to shift into the next season is already given by Him. By His power, the world is ever-spinning on its axis towards long sun-lit hours and bright pops of flowers. Leaves will wave and baby birds will hatch and life will blossom. Because He is ever-working in the present, the brilliance of spring blesses us.

Maybe your life’s situations feel winter-ish today, long and unrelenting. Maybe events aren’t unfolding as quickly as you’d like–you feel stuck in shades of grey and brown, chilly and tired of cut-off growth.

If that’s the case, I hope that this is your dandelion of a reminder that this season will not last always. The Author of your life is working, always, behind the scenes of what we see. ‘To everything there is a season, a time to plant and a time to uproot…’ Just as the earth needs spans of quiet preparation, so do we. If this is your time of waiting, don’t lose hope — ‘He has made everything beautiful in its time’ and so your situation is His work-in-progress. He knows the weather that is coming and what every heart is in need of to thrive in it, the timing and the nutrients required for future-blossoms…His will and His mission will always be fulfilled, His Word never falling useless to the ground, and so we can trust that His plans and purpose will be done in our lives and on the earth.

So keep praying and trusting…our Creator knows exactly how and when to change our season. His timing is perfect, His love always with us…and just as weeping in the night gives way to joy in the morning, so will the winters of our lives give way to His joyful spring.

I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord!  Psalm 27:13-14