Look For It

Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin...

Zechariah 4:10

Our culture is structured around articulating the desired end result, and then maximizing each moment in that direction for optimum success. Goals, Objectives, Strategies, Milestones, Markers, Achievements, all recognized ways in which we move forward to arrive at an ever changing destination of accomplishment and happiness. 

Today I was watering my new trees. I held the hose in one hand, and was scrolling through facebook with the other. As I let the hose soak my new apple, something tiny caught my eye.

The tree I planted one week ago, the tree that was dormant and bare, is extending the tiniest, fuzzy, silver gray leaves.

I pocketed my phone and went on a hunt around my mostly dormant garden, full of just-planted sleeping specimens.

 

The growth on a fig is like a fat knife piercing the stem.

 

Blueberries have already produced flower-like clusters of new leaves.

 

Tiny jagged raspberry leaves sit aloft the leaf litter.

Orange blossoms, delicate and fragrant, invite a closer look.

 

 

Lemon buds, swelling.

 

 

Not all the growth springs up easily, from undisturbed roots. This Salvia was unceremoniously ripped up by the roots, and given to me in a bag, by a neighbor. I cut it back, hoping it would live.

 

The dry and abused stem I planted is pushing out new leaves.

 

My Pomegranate

The pomegranate I planted with such loving care in the fall, was split down the main branch, when some tree guys dropped a limb on it. We taped the split, and I have been whispering success to the tree, and today, at the very tip of the main branch, this.

"Nothing is happening!" I've groaned to our friends about our foster care journey. "They are still acting up in the same way we've been working on for months!" I complain to my husband about various behaviors in our children. "Why is this not over yet?" I wail about a particularly harrowing journey with the IRS. 

Be still and know that I am God.

Psalm 46:10

I am being faithful with my little, and I know that God is being faithful with me. It sure is encouraging to see new life, emerging unexpectedly. God is faithful.