I often dream of what next spring will look like. Will we have received our vaccine? Will we be able to gather safely again? And regardless of those outcomes, I want to be surrounded with warmth and lush green life again.
What if I told you that spring is already here? Does that seem crazy? It’s not. Spring 2021 surrounds us already. Let me explain.
Winter’s are long where I live. That isn’t being over dramatic. They can last from October well into April. It can seem like forever. It actually is forever….
I don’t know about you, but often my life gets stuck in seasons of winter too. Many times those seasons are longer than even the worst Canadian winters. There are winters of loneliness. Winters where finances seem frozen, and goals and dreams stuck in ice.
However, on a walk this past January, a tree on my boulevard caught my attention. I noticed tiny buds all over it. Confused because spring was months away, I pulled one of these buds off the tree. I started to pull it apart. There inside the bud were tiny green pieces of life. The start of leaves were tightly tucked inside.
A quick google search revealed that trees actually form their buds at the end of summer before the winter. Not in the spring. There are not enough nutrients available in the spring to grow the buds at that time. The tree has prepared itself for spring before winter ever comes. It gets its nourishment from the summer before. The buds are actually formed before the leaves ever fall off the tree.
All winter I wait in anticipation of new life in the spring, and yet the tree sits all winter holding this beautiful gift of life inside the entire time.
Nature takes what it needs from the seasons that bring it sun, and water and nutrients. It prepares itself for the winter. Then it waits. It may be still, and it may not seem like there is much happening. The tree waits patiently with everything it needs to sustain itself during the bitter cold and start over again in the spring.
Could we prepare ourselves the same way too?
Winters come every year. There is no stopping it. In our lives we will face winters with just as much certainty.
God knew the trees needed to be ready before the winter. I think a tree can teach us a lot about how we need to withstand our own winters.
Perhaps, God has etched the ability to survive winters into the DNA of the tree the same way he etched into ours.
A tree grows its roots deep into the soil. Even a year of drought cannot suppress the trees ability to thrive. We need deep roots. We need to plant ourselves near streams of life-giving sources of soul nourishment.
They very first Psalm captures this perfectly. (v 1-3)
Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
To be the tree that withstands the winter, we need to delight in God’s word.
We become like a tree planted by a river because we have a continual flow of strength. We can withstand the bitter cold, blazing sun, and the harsh winds.
In the same way, lets not wait for the winter. Let’s prepare our “buds” in seasons of abundance. I don’t want to wait for winter to try and grow what I need to survive. You and I deserve to flourish and hold those glorious blooms throughout the winter too.
Consequently, when it seems as though winter is going on forever, we can take heart in knowing that the buds for next season are already formed on the trees all through the winter. The next season is already alive, safely secured to the source which gives it all it needs to survive. It is waiting for the right conditions to thrive. If it opens too early it will freeze. It needs to wait for just the right moment and conditions to bloom. God’s promises for the next season of life are already created and securely held until just the right moment too.
Even in 2020, the future is still safely held.
I don’t want to grow weary. Instead, I want to cultivate what I need to grow buds that will withstand the harshness that I will surely face.
Author and Pastor Levi Lusko said “You must train for the trial you’re not yet in. The worst time to try to get ready for a marathon is when you are running one”.
In the meantime, if you’ve entered a winter and you are feeling depleted, I want you to know that without a doubt God will find you here too. We often wait until disaster comes, or until we’ve exhausted our own strength to seek God. But it is there that God comes to meet us. I wonder if God gives us winters because he knew we’d find him there when all other resources for life have vanished.
Step outside and find a tree. Pluck the bud off. Pull it apart. Hold that reminder that God is also holding your next season securely, even when you cannot see it. The blooms of 2021 are already within our midst. Keep pressing on. Keep planting yourself near streams of living water. This won’t be our last winter, but we were made to endure them.
