It’s that time of year when life is emerging from the earth. After a long, dark, cold winter, the time has come for all things new. Here in Nebraska, we still swing between winter and spring for a while. We can go from a low of twenty degrees to a high of eighty degrees within a given week. We are tricked into thinking spring is here, but winter still needs its time.

Our excitement gets the better of us and often on those warm days, we roam outside, anxious to see if anything has begun to pop through the dirt yet, knowing it could be any day.

The seeds and bulbs and roots were all put to bed in the dirt over winter. They need their time of rest in the dark and cold before they can be their best. The last time we checked, there was no sign of anything yet, but we have faith. The flowers we planted in hope, given the right time, will emerge and put on their great show. Even though we may not see it, they are doing their thing, working on busting through that dirt.

Year after year, we know this to be true. The time will come. And we also know, there is absolutely nothing we can do to make those flowers come up any sooner once we plant them in the earth. It can be so hard to wait, and we would love to put a rush on it, but they need their time deeply buried.

So we wait.

It is no different with the seasons in life. We know after hard, long seasons, the time will come for that season to end and for a new one to begin. But the wait is so hard. No matter what we are waiting for, it’s hard. Frustrations and impatience tempt us along the way. We want to speed things up instead of allowing the time needed. We want to push it along faster. We want to fix it. We want to heal it. We want to force it. We want a shortcut. But God calls us to be faithful and to trust Him and His timing.

Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.
Psalm 27:14 (NASB)

If you’re in the midst of a painful season of waiting, my heart aches for you because I get it. I understand those confusing, difficult seasons, where it feels vulnerable to wait. Sometimes all we can do is pray — pray and wait. Whether the seasons change quickly or don’t change easily at all, we must wait on the Lord, and we can put our faith in Him.

Trust and hope come in the middle of waiting on God. When we move our focus from what we are waiting for to Him, we can find a sense of peace in His plans and hope in Him. 

God is always at work. Just like the work being done in those seeds, bulbs, and roots that we can not see, we can know and trust that God is working on our behalf. Even when we can’t see it, even if it seems to be taking forever, even if we don’t understand, the seasons will change, the plants will burst forth, and God will come through.

After a little more time and another check in the garden, I notice they’re there — the unmistakable little red heads of peonies peeking through the dirt. And although it will be a while before their beautiful blooms appear, there they are, coming out of the dark earth — just like they do every year.

Be encouraged while waiting on God. Your time will come. Trust and remain faithful in your season. While you wait, remember He is right there with you. And He is really what we want after all.

God, the one and only – I’ll wait as long as he says. Everything I hope for comes from him, so why not? He’s solid rock under my feet, breathing room for my soul, an impregnable castle: I’m set for life.
Psalm 62:5-6 (MSG)

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