Beneath the Surface

There is this bush that blooms every spring that I absolutely love.  The aroma that pours out from its delicate clusters of blooms is the most beautiful perfume to me that God created.  If I were to describe what Heaven would smell like, this would be the scent I would choose.  I have no idea what this plant is called, but since I first inhaled this sweet fragrance I have not forgotten it. 

Every spring I drag my good friend out for a walk on our lunch break, not once but several times over the course of a few weeks.  We walk in the direction of this gift of spring as soon as the time draws near for the little blossoms to display their glory.  We are usually a week or so early, but I wait for this all year, so we are careful not to miss it, so we walk down Broadway often, and when this flower has bloomed, you just know.  You can catch little puffs of it's scent when you are still blocks away.  Even though I know there are days my friend would rather relax on her lunch break, she always goes with me and knows just how much I enjoy it.

One Saturday afternoon this past spring, she called me.

"Guess what?" I could sense the excitement in her voice.

"What?" I asked in anticipation.

"I am at my mother-in-law's, we are out in the yard, and she has THE BUSH!"

"Oh, my goodness I can't believe it!  Ask her what it's called!"  I almost couldn't contain my joy, and my kids were looking at me as if I had just landed from Mars.

She answered me with, "Well, I asked her, and she doesn't know."

My shoulders sunk a bit, if I could just find out the name of this bush, I could go to the greenhouse and get one for myself.  I had been on a quest to find out its name for several springs and once again was coming up short until she finished with, "She said I could dig up a piece of it and bring it to you."

The joy and excitement returned, because that thought hadn't crossed my mind, and I looked forward to her bringing me a little sprig to nurture until next spring.

Well, we are now in the dead of summer and several days ago my friend asked me how that little sprig was doing.  I told her that I planted it in a pot, but all of the foliage had since fallen off, and all that remained was a stick projecting out from the dirt. 

I told her that I was chosing to remain hopeful that something was going on under that dirt that I could not see.  Only time would tell, maybe some day I would see a sign of life.

Well, guess what? Yesterday I walked around the side of my house.  I passed by the little pot that I feared would not bring forth new life next spring, and much to my surprise there were new tender green leaves! 

My steps instantly got a little lighter and I am excited about what spring will bring in 2012.  Those little leaves confirmed to me that all along, even though there was nothing going on that I could observe on the surface, there was much going on underneath it.  Life was developing in the dark places and opened up in the light.

I've learned that sometimes God works that way with us too.

From Isaiah 43:18-19

Do not call to mind the former things,

Or ponder things of the past.

Behold, I will do something new,

Now it will spring forth

Will you not be aware of it?
I will even make a roadway in the wilderness,

Rivers in the desert.

My friends, I know how hard it is to have no idea what God is doing.  We have to trust Him completely.  Trust Him enough to believe that even though we see nothing on the surface, He is doing a great work beneath it.  It's easy to dwell on the past, how things "used to be", easy to ask ourselves "why"  and "how".  If we are too busy dwelling on the past, when the new "thing" springs forth we may not be aware of it.

And OHHHHH, I want to be aware of it.

I can't wait to see evidence of His great work that has been taking place beneath the surface when life springs forth for the eye to behold.

What a masterpiece it will be.

Royal Princess Daughter Of The King