Spring Shoots

A few days ago I climbed over a two foot pile of snow that was blocking the sidewalk of a building I was trying to enter.  As I made my way to the door of the brick building, something caught my eye--Spring shoots!  Several three inch spikes of pale yellow green growth were poking through the mud. These were the first signs of the changing season I had seen this year.   A Happy Dance would have been appropriate--Spring was coming!

Seeing those shoots snuggled up against the building made me think of the Spring plant's life cycle.  Months of preparation happen so that the plant can "show off" for a couple of weeks a year.

The plant's bulb is planted in the ground in the Fall.  It spends a long dark cold Winter resting and preparing for it's intended purpose--flowering.  There are no external signs of life but below the ground the bulb is putting down roots and providing nutrients to the tiny bud that lives inside it.   The bulb is not showy and it is patient.  It does it's work in secret.



As Spring approaches, the plant peaks out to have a look at the world.  Under the warmth of the sun, leaves begin to grow and flourish above ground and the bud that has been so carefully protected by the bulb is now taking it's place.   Soon the colorful flower emerges and takes center stage. 

After a couple of weeks, the blossom fades and new bulbs begin to form underground.  The leaves that are left standing feed the new bulbs and the whole cycle begins again.

Spring flowers know what humans don't know--what happens in secret is more important than what happens in public!  Isn't it amazing that in the life cycle of a bulb the actual public, showy, "productive," blooming is only about two or three weeks out of fifty-two weeks?  The other fifty weeks are all about preparation and nourishment.

I learned this lesson vividly a few years ago.  I was teaching children in our church.  Each week I would make sure I had the teaching aids and craft supplies and games readied for the children.  When Sunday morning rolled around I felt like it was "game day" and I could hardly wait to "get the show on the road." 

Then one New Year's Sunday, Jim (my pastor), challenged our congregation members to write a prayer to the Lord asking Him to help us make a personal change in an area that, up until now, had been a difficulty in our life.  (I decided to participate though I don't do too well with New Year's Resolutions.)  On my card, I wrote a prayer asking the Lord to help me have regular, meaningful devotions each day, something I had struggled with my whole life.  Jim collected the sealed cards with the promise of mailing them back to us in six months so we could see how God was answering our prayer.

On a day in June, an envelope addressed to me in my own handwriting (like the dentist's postcard reminders) arrived.  Puzzled, I opened it up to find the prayer I had written six months earlier.  I was elated to realize my prayer had been answered.  I had been having wonderful times of Bible reading, prayer and journaling each day.  I would often be anxious for Jim to come home at night so I could share what I had read and observed from the scriptures.   My relationships were being enriched by the things I learned during my Bible reading.

I also recognized that my Sunday teaching was completely transformed.  My roots were going deeper and I was being nourished and out of that richness, I was sharing God's Word--it was real and alive.  The showy games and crafts and story telling were great but my heart was different.  What was happening in secret was impacting my life in public!