Frangipani

I have been looking out at this tree since we moved into this house three months ago. It has looked d-e-a-d, dead. I had often gazed at it regretfully, thinking how sad it was that such a big frangipani tree was lifeless and how beautiful the flowers would have been.

And then about a week ago I noticed green leaves pushing their way free of the craggly brownness. Today, I saw the first flowers - those beautiful, fragrant frangipanis.

Oh, how our God loves to bring life from seeming death. He is truly a God "who calls things that are not as though they are" (Romans 4:17).

As I looked at the beginning greenness, the Lord reminded me how He is in charge of bringing life in its season, and sometimes to my eyes all I see is dryness and cracking grey-brown skin, but there is life pulsing under the surface.

Thank you, my precious Father.

Storms

Here's the picture: Jesus has told His disciples that it is time to get in a boat and go to the other side. They all pile in the boat, Jesus lays down in the boat and goes to sleep. His disciples were probably pretty glad He did. They knew the demands the people (not to mention themselves) put on Jesus. They probably felt like I do when my husband gets a morning to sleep in, I sneak around trying to keep the boys quiet so he can rest.

And then, the storm hits - not just a few raindrops but a "furious squall". So the disciples wake the resting Jesus with "Don't you care if we drown?!?!" Jesus gets up speaks to the wind and the waves and immediately they stop. Order and peace are restored.

As I read this at bedtime to the boys, the Lord spoke to my heart. How often do the storms break in on my life (storms, read: whining children, messes, things not happening according to my timetable, bickering brothers, hurt feelings, the press of a long to-do list, and more...) and I react with a "Lord, don't you care?!?" But Jesus is there, present, in the boat, in the storm; so why should I doubt His care? Now I don't think Jesus minded being woken up (unlike me), but I think it was the way in which the disciples woke Him. I think He wanted them to wake Him, for only He could calm the storm and the waves which were breaking over the boat. But not with an accusation, but with a trusting request.

That night the Lord reminded me that He is my source for all that I need to calm the storms in my life, that He is willing to do that because He is the Lord. But it is all in the way I ask.