Through the Garden Gate - February

The ironic thing about looking through the garden gate this month is that I couldn’t actually go through my garden gate if I wanted to. Several feet of snow are mounded up in front of both gates. My raised beds are just slight elevations somewhere near the bottom of the garden, and my lilac bush is half buried.

My perennial beds are even worse. Because they are next to the sidewalk, we keep shoveling snow on top of them. Only the tops of a few tall bushes stick out of the snow right now that lines the pathway, past my knees. I wonder, every year about this time, will I ever see the blooms in my garden again? I’m getting a little tired of the same old color palate. Grey. White. Brown.

Here’s the deal though. Sometimes, something that seems bad, can actually be there for our protection. There have been a few years when the temperatures have been bitterly cold and the snow cover has been minimal. Those years, come spring, I discovered that I had lost nearly half of my plants. The most fragile and delicate perennials had frozen to death over the winter without the snow’s insulating cover. Who knew? Snow is warm!

The implications in my own life are obvious. I can not see the big picture of my life. There are so many times that I find myself in situations and circumstances that seem smotheringly painful. I wonder also if the joy-filled colors of spring in my life will ever break out again. Will I always feel like this? Grey. Brown. White.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Psalm 62:12 & 13:

“One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that you, O God, are strong, and that you, O Lord, are loving.”

When I don’t understand the circumstances of life, I trust my life and my circumstances to the One who is in control of them. I am able to trust God with all of these things, with my very life, because I trust His character. When you know and trust God, you are able to trust Him with the small things and the big, hard things as well.

I know God is strong. I know God is loving. I know God is good. I know God is in control.

I don’t need to know the rest.

Just as the garden doesn’t need to understand the snow that blankets it, but trust the gardener to bring it the right amount of protection, water, mulch, sun and warmth, so I can trust the Master Gardener in my life to bring me the same. Sun, rain, snow, even storms.

I’m in good hands. Strong hands. Loving hands.