Seasons

Have you ever taken the time and watched the seasons change? I mean really see the trees and the flowers go and come again? Does your mood change along with the seasons? Do you feel better or worse? Are you happy when the change happens or do you regret the change? Here's a better question that most can relate to, do you think of what could have been?

A woman who keeps a garden every year told me that when she picks her collard greens it is just at the beginning of frost. She said the greens are almost sweet when she waits for the time to come rather than being impatient and picking them just because they seem to be large and ready for the harvest. I had a garden too but I wasn't as experienced as she is and didn't take what she said to mean anything else but what she initially said, "don't pick the collards before the first frost." Fine, I planted spinach. It was a variety that grew hardy and very quick. It wasn't long before I had bushels in the kitchen ready to wash and have set in the deep freezer. I kept a bushel out for that night's dinner. I washed and prepared them as I would do any green leafy vegetable. Then I took a taste of them after been seasoned and cooked for the appropriate time. I expected one thing and the taste I received wasn't that. I couldn't even describe what that taste was. Bitter would be too tame of a word. They smelled good. Looked good. But tasted as if I didn't know how to cook. I tried to doctor them up... you know, try to remedy whatever was wrong. There was no use. As much as I detest waste, there was only one place for them. It was much later in life I recalled what that woman said about those collards. I realized it was true for all green leafy vegetables. Well, why didn't she just say that?

Actually, the whole ordeal proved to be a life lesson. When my husband and I divorced, I had to take my children and move back home. It was one of those rock and a hard place situations. I went back to school and finished my education so I could get a good job and get a place of my own for my children. Once I got the job, everything got in the way of me finishing my goal. Children have all of their needs met not to mention the expectations of the schools they attended. As hard as I tried including working double shifts, I couldn't get past living paycheck to paycheck (back then). When I saved, something happend and the savings were pilfered until there was nothing left. As much as I was still determined to find that home for my children, landlords weren't so eager to have a single woman with five children come and stay in their property. It was the most frustrating time in my life; and more than likely not a picnic for my mother either. I wailed during those years when I prayed and just when I got close to getting a property, something would jossle that landlord in his sleep for him to change his mind.

It took years before moving. I still can't think of those days and laugh, neither can my children - well, not yet anyway. During that time, I heard of a woman who attended the same church I was, had taken what little she had in the bank, packed up her children and left to go to a state where she had never been and had no family there. She prospered. I heard several stories just like that and as much as I tried not to look up and ask, I couldn't help myself.

After graduating I got a job that I really liked more than any position I ever had. I received an accomodation letter, people that trained me came and praised my work to my superiors, I was going to keep this job no matter what. No sooner did the thought pass my mind, trouble came with both barrels and a mixing bowl on the side. I was investigated and as much as the director stated she tried to find another position in the company, I was regretfully let go. The use of profanity, something I stopped soooo long ago came for me to use. It would have been so simple the choice words and phrases that for the most part I only thought about - I said, for the most part. My car got stripped. I got another car, it got a flat and then stolen. I had no money, no car, no job, and barely a place to live.

And then something changed. After 2 years and so many hundreds of resumes later, I got a job but it wasn't for the right person and I had no choice but to leave. I then packed what I could to see if I could do what that other woman did and leave to a state where I had no family just to start all over. It was one of the worst decisions I ever made. Before all of my money was gone, I moved back. Too tired to do any more wailing in frustration, I got quiet, got still, and waited.

God said we are like trees planted by the rivers of the living water (Psalm 1:3 KJV). Trees don't grow over night. I had to stop panicking and see what resources I already have and use them. Nothing else was working for me at the time. My anxious efforts weren't doing well (Provebs 12:25 NIV). I gained some insight from my neice who started making purses from simple materials. I knew I had other talents and once I became still, I drew from them and was able to gain other insights into other things I had allow myself to be dormant. One of those insights you see here with the art displayed.

The point is gaining the information to use in the best way possible. The woman with the collards had the information she needed. Whether she knew that same thing for all leafy vegetables was neither here nor there. She knew it for the crop she was going to harvest (Hosea 4:6 AMP). I didn't know the info for my particular harvest and because of that, I didn't have one.

The same is true for anything in life (Ecclesiastes 3:1 AMP). There is time for everything. For some, it is the time for their skills in a particular company and once that time passes those skills are needed elsewhere. How do you find out where? Don't panic and wait on the Lord. He knows where you need to be better then you do. Fear will keep you from hearing that inward witness and if you maintain in that state of panic or anxiety (Philippians 4:6 NIV), the time will pass you completely and you will wait longer for the next season.

How long have you been waiting for your breakthrough? Did you ever wonder if God has forgotten about you? Have you contemplated going back out in the world? Is it taking too long for the frost to come? Know that Jesus studied for all of that time until He was in his 30's before he started His 3 year ministry. What are you doing in your time of wait? Aren't we following Jesus? Shall we do different than what He did? Can you still stand when the storm arises? Will trouble find you down and out? Can you count it all joy when divers temptations are all around you (James 1:2 KJV)?