Invincible summer within

In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer. 

(Albert Camus)

Winter is just about over for most of us in the states, but there is this lingering little bit of a visit now and again from the chilly north that brings just a hint of winter's snow and cold. As Spring blossoms into full bloom some places, others are still thawing. What is the purpose of winter? Isn't it a time of dormancy - when the living plants take leave of growth for just a while and endure the frosts and winter winds as they beat against them? It almost looks like death has come to what once was alive and thriving, but then suddenly we find wonder one spring morn when we note the tiny green growth once again emerge from the barren branch or spring forth from the frosted ground below. What appeared to have been lost to the winter shows signs of being stronger than ever!

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. (James 2:1-4 NLT)

What seems lost suddenly gives evidence there has been no loss, but rather greater strength and mightier endurance! This is the way of winter - giving way to the season of springtime growth and rich development. In our own lives, there are definitely times when the 'frosts' of despair and fear seem to chill us to the bone. The moments of challenge just pummel us with icy crystal after icy crystal, until one day we appear to be devoid of all signs of growth. But then...under the warmth of the Son's light, something from within spring forth giving evidence that all is not lost! As Camus said, the depths of winter give rise to the awareness of the eternal summer within! There is nothing going to destroy what God tends - even in the times when there aren't signs of growth, his hand is still at work! 

It is in those seasons of challenge where we see our faith tested and our endurance getting the chance to grow. Think about it for just a moment. If all of life was the intensity of summer, would we really be as strong as we could be? I don't know about you, but I need the down-times of winter to regroup for the "heat" and "intensity" of summer! It may not be easy to endure the "coolness" of winter seasons within our hearts and spirits, but God gives us everything we need to emerge from the "chill" of those seasons refreshed and ready for the intensity of the hot summer months ahead!

Have you also noticed that each springtime brings just a little different growth in the garden, or to that tree? New branches emerge from places where no branches were in the past. New buds become evident behind those green leaves of the flowering plants. New blades of rich green grass spring up where brown, trodden down blades once stood. The growth looks "similar" to what once was, but it is totally different! The seasons of winter might just be placed in our lives to help us not become focused so much on what we are, but to help us discover what we can become as we emerge from the other side of winter just a little different and more vibrant than we were when we entered into that season! Just sayin!

Insulated, not isolated

There is great wisdom in learning to be attentive to the seasons.  In the natural sense, seasons bring different opportunities for the one who watches for the outcome of the season.  In springtime, new growth sprouts forth, but how did the growth occur?  Wasn't it because the soil was prepared for the growth, the seeds were planted, finding growth possible because of the sun and gentle rains which nourish it into life?  In the summertime, the heats of the sun can almost devastate the tender shoots, so they spring up in the cooler season of springtime.  This way they already have root enough to survive the heat of summer.  Fall brings harvest and a planting of a different crop - one which requires a little frost to bring forth the rich tastes of this season.  Winter seems like it produces very little, but the "barrenness" of winter actually prepares the way for the growth of spring.  The shedding of leaves leads to ground cover, protecting seeds which fell in the previous season of autumn and the rains or snows tamp that seed down under those composting leaves.  In turn, the seed is readied for the gentle warming of spring - the season when the growth will become evident.  The cycle begins all over again - each season producing something the next will build upon. The same is true in our lives as it applies to our relationships.  They go through seasons - one building upon the next, preparing the way for every bit of growth we will and "fruit" of the season.

A person's thoughts are like water in a deep well, but someone with insight can draw them out. (Proverbs 20:5 GNT)

Seasons within relationships are often missed because one or more parties simply doesn't take the time to realize the purpose of the time they are in. What happens in each season is important and should not be glossed over.  It doesn't pay to be inattentive to the seasons in the natural sense - so it stands to reason as much as we might be inattentive in our relationships, we might just miss opportunities if we continue this inattentiveness.  Probably one of the most telling signs of us not being cognizant of the seasons of a relationship is when we turn our backs on the instruction within the season. The seasons of relationships are filled with all manner of lessons from which we can glean many opportunities for growth and maturity, but neglecting any of the seasons sets us up for a failed "crop" in the next.  No planting, or planting too late in spring means withered growth in summer, or worse yet, no growth at all.  

Often, we miss the opportunities within the season because of the barriers to growth we might not recognize in each of these seasons.  In the natural sense, springtime seems like a wonderfully vibrant and lush season, but it is riddled with all kinds of "growth-inhibitors", as well.  As quickly as the new growth might spring up during this season, there is also a corresponding growth all around us.  There is a multiplication of sorts all around which requires just as much feeding as the tiny seeds which spring forth.  Those tender shoots actually make nice fodder for those quick enough to steal them away!  Some of us see growth springing up within our relationships and then just count on it to continue - simply because it took root.  We don't see the tiny critters underneath with their insatiable appetites for the tender roots. The garden of relationship must be tended carefully, identifying early signs of growth "stealing" invaders.

Growth "stealing" invaders in relationship might be those things which demand our time and attention. While good on the surface, their constant demands of our focus actually take our eyes off the growth which was occurring in the relationship and diverted attention gives the chance for the growth "stealing" invaders to eat away at its tender roots.  Whatever can affect the roots soon gnaws away at the one source we have for continued growth.  No roots means no fruits.  The heat of summer in terms of relationships are those times when we may not see eye-to-eye and then this brings friction.  We can only exist so long in the "hot-bed" of emotional unrest in relationships.  Eventually, the "heat" of the unrest will wither us and wilted relationships may lack the ability to recover.  What may have barely made it through the heat of "summer" in relationships may just be done in by the seeming barrenness of autumn and winter.  So, what are we to do to make the most of the seasons in our relationships?

We need all seasons - so don't sell any season short.  At first, relationships are like springtime - there is all kinds of fresh growth.  Newness of relationship actually brings all these little shoots of potential growth - but each must be nurtured.  Some will find this too burdensome - others will delight in the tenderness of "caring for" each other.  The important thing is we recognize the opportunities for growth - the things which need our attention in order to flourish into solid parts of our relationships.  The warming effects of summer actually test the "solid" roots of our "intense growth cycle" we call springtime.  At first, we grow rapidly - then we are put to the test.  Not all growth will survive, but that which does will become stronger as things "heat up" in relationship.  Then comes autumn - the season when we get comfortable with each other.  Autumn is kind of a lazy season - we enjoyed the rapid growth, survived the testing of summer, and now we kick back and just think we can enjoy each other.  Here's the rub - we do need to kick back and enjoy each other, but we also need to "insulate" in order to be able to survive the next season of winter.

"Insulating" doesn't mean we pull away, but that we draw closer and actually wrap the tenderest parts of our relationship in preparation for the harshness of winter storms.  Just as the leaves might be raked and placed in piles around the base of the tree in order to protect its tender roots, so we might just need to "insulate" the tender roots of our relationship.  We draw closer to each other when we are protective of each other.  Winter's storms may attempt to put a little "chill" into our relationships, but a well-insulated root base will keep us solid and capable of even more new growth with the breaking of spring again!  Just sayin!

Oh, and I wanted water!

I have been considering the life of Moses and his leadership over Israel in my recent studies.  One thing I want us to see about Moses is just how God made him a gifted leader.  He didn't just "get" magically awesome answers from God in the spur of the moment - he spent time in God's presence and this connection is what allowed him to receive the "magically awesome answers" to his prayers!  Maybe this seems like it should go without saying, but keep company with God and he will keep company with you.  Most of the world doesn't get this, though.  They choose to keep company with anything BUT God and wonder why they don't have the answers they need when the times seem to challenge them.  All success in life is a matter of this connection - apart from it, there can only be fleeting success.  Today we will consider the things God uses to change our world.

Moses led Israel from the Red Sea on to the Wilderness of Shur. They traveled for three days through the wilderness without finding any water. They got to Marah, but they couldn’t drink the water at Marah; it was bitter. That’s why they called the place Marah (Bitter). And the people complained to Moses, “So what are we supposed to drink?”  So Moses cried out in prayer to God. God pointed him to a stick of wood. Moses threw it into the water and the water turned sweet.  That’s the place where God set up rules and procedures; that’s where he started testing them.  God said, “If you listen, listen obediently to how God tells you to live in his presence, obeying his commandments and keeping all his laws, then I won’t strike you with all the diseases that I inflicted on the Egyptians; I am God your healer.”  They came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees. They set up camp there by the water.  (Exodus 15:22-27 MSG)

Sometimes we come up against some pretty bitter places in our lives.  People don't understand us, we are misinterpreted, our paths seem to converge in some place of absolute chaos.  We get the sense no one is "for" us and the world is "against" us.  In those moments, the bitterness can begin to define us or drive us - the difference is in the choice we make when faced with the "sourness" of our circumstances.  Much of the time, the choice of what we will do when we are faced with the "bitter waters" of life is determined by how we handled the last choice we made.  If we chose to complain about the last set of circumstances, chances are we will launch right into complaint this time around, too.  If we pulled away, like a turtle in a shell, hoping it would all just go away, chances are we will respond to the bitterness with avoidance this time.  The only way to change the cycle of our response is to get closer to God's presence in the midst of the circumstance.  Bitter waters are a place of choice.  Probably one of the hardest places to find ourselves is at the place of bitter waters when we have been "doing everything right".  Let me give you a little word of advice here - there is no assurance of refreshing waters just because we are "doing everything right".  There is just an assurance of provision - it may not come exactly as we expected it, but it does come!  

The bitter waters are one thing - the place of no water is another.  These are the seasons where everything in our lives just seems to be dry, dry, dry.  No matter how much we try, all comes back dry and barren.  These are the seasons where we just want to give up and not even try anymore.  At those moments, even bitter water seems better than no water at all!  At least there is water - you cannot enjoy it, but it is there!  One thing we need to see - even the farmer knows the purpose of the barren seasons.  He allows the fields to lay dormant for a while - not because he likes to see them brown and unwatered, but because he knows the "rejuvenation" of the soil comes in allowing the soil to rest a while.  No water seems a little harsh, but even the worst of water will grow weeds!  Some of us are facing these "down times" when the soil of our lives seem a little dry, parched, and totally barren.  In these times, we are tempted to turn to places where we might just find a little water - even the bitter waters.  Please know this - God has you in a season of barrenness not to "do you in", but to prepare you for the next phase of what he plans for the "soil" of your life.

In the places of bitter waters and no waters, we often come across folks who will attempt to get us focused on the condition of the "water" in our lives. They will be quick to point out how bitter our circumstances are, or how absolutely unfair it is for us to be so unproductive during this season.  The temptation for us is to actually listen to these folks instead of God.  The problem comes in their interpretation of the bitter or absent waters.  Their response to the bitter waters might be to complain, become angered over the conditions which led to the bitter waters, etc.  They have an ability to infect us with their negativity.  Those who come alongside to offer their interpretation of the lack of water seem to focus on the inability and unfaithfulness of our God.  They just don't see the work of rejuvenation "under the soil" which is preparing us for the good waters which are to come.  Be careful who you listen to in the midst of these bitter water and no water places.  It will often affect how you interpret these times and can even cause you to get a little bitter or angry yourself!

If you missed the "fix" in the passage above, read it again.  The "fix" one piece of wood - not something they brought along with them in their journey, but something prepared for them IN their journey.  The wood was there because God caused it to be exactly where they needed it to be in order to accomplish the purpose he had for the wood.  Even something as insignificant as a piece of wood in the hands of God can turn the bitterest places into the most refreshing.  The thing God wants us to see is his ability to provide even when it looks like all hope is lost.  If you missed the second part of the passage, read it again.  The bitter waters were the place where God started testing them!  Don't get frustrated with the bitter water and no water places. They are really signs of God's careful concern for our development.  There may seem to us to be some other way God could bring this development, but trust me, he knows the exact things which brings growth in us.  This is really the purpose of these places - nothing else will do what he can accomplish there. Just sayin!

Its raining again!

³ Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.

(Hosea 6:3)

The urgent call is to acknowledge the Lord.  He tugs at the strings of our heart, just like a child tugs and the garment of a parent, urgently seeking attention.  There is a desire in that child's heart to be acknowledged - knowing that the parent is both aware of his presence and involved in his life.  There is a desire to be embraced, lavished with love and cherished deeply.  God's tugs at our heart are meant for the same purpose!

To acknowledge carries the meaning of:

• Recognizing the rights, authority, and status of a holy God - it is in the acknowledgment of his rights to be in control, instead of my continual battle to control my life that he is able to move freely in my circumstances.  Whenever we get to the place that we are willing to sacrifice our self-sufficient will to his, we come to a place where we acknowledge him as Lord.
• Disclosing what is hidden - acknowledging something brings it out into the open.  We hide a whole lot of things in our lives - things we are not proud to display.  Things like wrong attitudes, past hurts, unwise choices, and outright sinful deeds.  The amazing thing is that the grace of God is also hidden deep in the inner parts of our lives.  It is in the exposure of that grace that we can deal with the other junk that is hidden there, as well.  Repentance brings the grace of God to the surface again and it becomes evident.

Sin cannot be hidden forever - light makes anything manifest that has been hidden in the darkness of its hiding place.  Whenever we acknowledge our need for God's love, protection, or leading, we are acknowledging our willingness to disclose what has been hidden.  This brings grace - and grace produces healing.

Let us press on to acknowledge him - this implies an action on our part.  There is an action of pressing forward - implying that he is not found in our wallowing in self-pity.  Returning to a fresh start with God always speaks of action - some change in our focus.  Revival speaks of an action on God's part - the renewal of what has become dry and pretty useless.  Restoration speaks of an action - begins with the acknowledgement of his presence.

There were two rainy seasons that were celebrated by the people of Israel - the winter rains and the spring rains.  The winter rains really were the former rains - those things that had already passed.  They were good - they served their purpose.  Yet, it was the spring rains that brought the new growth.  They were the latter rains of the season.  It was because of the spring rains that the harvest was possible.  We each experience seasons of growth and restoration in our lives.  Some seasons are for restoration - like the winter rains.  Others are for growth and production of fruit - like the spring rains.  

Winter rains were the most plentiful rains - drenching the ground thoroughly.  It was the winter rains that broke the drought each year.  It is in the "winter rains" of our lives that we are meant to soak up all that God is providing - until we reach a point of saturation in him.  Those times of "winter rain" are meant to "fill up" the watersheds of our heart - to give us reserves from which we can draw for the seasons ahead.  

Spring rains were the shorter rains - just enough to ensure that there would not be famine.  It is those short bursts of refreshing rain that keep us growing, even when the "season" we are facing is hot and grueling.  Growth was established in these rains - the sun of the summer season would not destroy the growth of the spring because of the spring rains that refreshed and the fullness of the watersheds from the winter rains.  

I don't know what "season" you find yourself in today - but it serves a purpose.  It either refreshes you enough to produce the fruit, or it fills you up enough to have the reserves of his grace to pull from whenever you need them.  Don't curse the "rainy seasons" in your life - acknowledge them for the purpose they fulfill!