To Bloom Again

A flicker of red flew past my sunroom window this morning. It went under the eaves and stayed. When I leaned down to look at what it was, there on the electric lead into the house sat a big fat cardinal. What a thrill the sight of him was for me. The unexpected brilliance of the cardinal's color never ceases to excite me. We get so many of those unexpected thrills in the spring. While we were in Michigan yesterday we enjoyed the beauty of many blooming trees and bushes. I wanted to take pictures of each one but we whizzed by them so quickly, there wasn't opportunity for that. During March we had a week of beautiful weather. The temperatures were in the seventies and low eighties as the early spring sun warmed the earth. That did pose a problem. Plants thought it was time to rise above the ground and begin their yearly growth. Two weeks later, the temperatures plunged and the wind blew. Temperatures fell to 18 degrees. The cold spell lasted much too long and many of the plants that had poked out of the ground got their heads frozen off. My daffodills had already begun to bloom. The wind blew them over in a limp defeated heap and the cold air froze off their bloom. Many of my tulips didn't even bother to bloom. The threat of frost is gone now and true spring is upon us but that cold spell left its mark. Lilacs which were profuse with bloom last year are but a shadow of that beauty this year. The blooms are very small and bear only a small resemblance to what a blooming lilac is supposed to look like. One isn't tempted to pick a bouquet because they aren't pretty in the least. While the lack of beautiful lilacs is disappointing, we know that there is always "next year" for which to hope.

Have there been cold spells in your life that have frozen off some buds in areas where you are supposed to bloom? Sometimes the things we experience do such frozen damage to us that we don't bloom as well as we'd like. God shows us in nature that He understands. He knows about spoiled plans, failed performances, broken relationships. Remember that God in His wisdom points us to the hope He offers. We can bloom again after a cold spell. There is always 'tomorrow' or 'next year'. The strength the lilac has to overcome this year's failure, will restore it next spring with renewed vigor. That same strength, the creative strength, is ours as well for each time we fail to bloom. It is God in us that gives us the strength to do anything worthwhile. His plans cannot be foiled. You know the old adage, 'bloom where you are planted'? I'd add to that, 'bloom again if you have once lost your buds to the cold experiences of life'.