Isaiah 43:19 (NRSV)
19 I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
As I continue to work mostly from my “home office” on my screen porch, I am constantly distracted by God’s handiwork in nature all around me. A few years ago, as part of a construction project on my house, I removed an old, falling down carport and at the same time, re-landscaped my back yard into a more purposeful plan. The owners before me bought this house in the 1940s and over their 60+ years of occupancy had planted things in a somewhat haphazard manner. My landscaper brought in a little Bobcat and moved the dirt around, took out the old landscaping, planted things according to a new plan and I have been quite pleased with the results.
The past couple of years, however, I have been amused by this rogue red lily that pops up in the middle of a natural area of ferns and pine straw. I remember well how several of these lilies were nestled together up against the old carport on the opposite side of the backyard from where this lily has now appeared. It boggles my mind that this one lily not only survived, but now every year appears for a few weeks in spring sporting these bright jarringly red blooms that sort of mock me. “You thought you could get rid of me that easily, huh?”
So, it often is with “our” plans. Nature has a way of throwing curve balls and surprising us, derailing the things on our agenda, our to-do list, our best laid plans. And quite often we see in the created order this amazing strength and perseverance that reminds us what is possible under the most severe of circumstances.
Now, I could rip that lily out of the ground and get “my plan” back on track. But I find every year when “she” appears, it makes me happy. I find my persistent little red lily to be a parable of sorts, reminding me of what is possible with God, how our God can make a way in the wilderness for us when there is no way and rivers in the desert when all we see around us is…desert.
So, I share a little of that promise with you today and remind you of the strength of spirit God has placed in YOU, what God can do in and through YOU against all odds, what is possible when YOU persevere.
Maybe this is a parable you need to hear today! Keep the faith, good friends!
And so I pray: Today, oh God, I am a little weary of this time in the wilderness. I want to go to Book Club with my girlfriends, I want to bring my mom down for a visit, I want to have my dark roots touched up at the hair salon or maybe have a pedicure, I want to hug my friend as I pass her out on my daily walk, I want not to worry about whether or not I am going to run out of toilet paper. These are such petty concerns (I DO know this, Lord). So, I pray today instead for and with those whose lives have truly been turned upside down—those who have lost their job, those whose business may not make it, those whose loved ones are struggling in ICU, those healthcare workers who don’t have the safety equipment they need. Come alongside them with your strength and your perseverance and under-gird them with the knowledge that YOU can make a way. Help us ALL to keep the faith! Amen.
Whatever it takes,
Laura
