Cello days & the wonder of waiting.

Spring. 

It is a time of transition.

A waiting period.

Pending the presence of tiny green shoots. Pushing up slowly through the damp, rich earth. Their emergence – a promise of seasonal riches.

Weather sweeps and swells.

Yesterday’s warmth beckoned me outside.

Clearing garden beds.

Planting pansies. Their sweet butterscotch faces bracing for the chill, wrapped in velveteen petals of violet. Others gilded in garnet.

Today, a twist.

A cold mist settles in the morning air. Almost fog. Tiny water droplets forming a vaporous cloud over the lake.

Barely breezes push the surface to ripples.

Off in the distance, two white silhouettes gracefully glide. Swans searching the shoreline. It is time for nesting.

A perfect day to stay home and take in the breathtaking scenery.

With a cup of hot tea.

A good book.

And some cello music. 

There is joy in the waiting.

This glorious ‘in-between’ space of seasonal change.

We know that spring will arrive again, filling our senses with delight.

Buds on the trees soon turn to blossoms. Their fragrance to perfume the air.

Sap flows from the trees. And with it, the sweet gift of maple syrup.

Bluebirds are busy at the feeders, preparing for this year’s offspring. Their colorful plumage will grow more vibrant in the weeks ahead.

And before long, we find ourselves beneath a verdant canopy of green once more.

These treasures of springtime. 

Sunset walks in the woods with my Sweet Louise.

We approach the clearing and stop to listen.

Quietly waiting for the buzzy ‘peent’ of the male woodcock. His ritual call before he launches into the air for his twittering flight display in the twilight sky.

But what about those ‘in-between’ spaces of life?

When we can’t anticipate the outcomes like the consistent rotation of seasons.

When discomfort stops by for a visit but never seems to leave. And no departure date is in sight.

Days turn to weeks.

Weeks to months.

Sometimes the waiting can last for years.

Like the constant dripping of water on stone.

Slowly eroding our hope.

Gradually carving a cavern in our soul.

…

I don’t know about you, but in my sessions of spring cleaning I inevitably come across some kind of unfinished project.

The one that got set-aside.

Now forgotten in the back of the closet.

A bit dusty.

Incomplete.

In those uncomfortable places of longing in our lives, it can feel like our story has become that unfinished project.

Pushed to the back.

Seemingly lost.

Unrecognized.

In our weakness we begin to question, ‘Has God forgotten about us’?

We begin to wonder if we should set-aside our aspirations. Relinquish our notions of happiness.

Dare we disengage our dreams?

Lamentations 3:24-26

I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.” the Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

For me, the misery remained as I continued to clutch my desires.

Desperately grasping the things of this world that I believed would bring me contentment. Those things look different for each of us.

A relationship.

A residence.

A recovery.

No matter the disguise, it is the clenching to these constructs that keeps us from knowing our Savior’s all-consuming love.

It is the trying that tempers our vision of His will in our days.

Only in surrender will our hearts truly find rest.

For then we can receive peace in the pending.

And know the wonder of waiting.

This perspective changes everything.

…

What if we trusted that our lives are no different than the changing seasons?

That God’s plan for our story is perfect. Just as it is.

He will bring it to fruition as sure as the magnolia blooms.

If we place our trust in the Cross we will come to know the glory that is Easter.

The glory that is the boundless love of our Heavenly Father.

For if He could roll the stone away and raise our Jesus from the dead, surely He will never lose sight of us.

Sending His Spirit to guide us, we have been given the power to overcome. 

The power to bring light to any circumstance, no matter how dark.

To bring a contented closure to prolonged periods of uncertainty.

A grace to redeem all failure and fear.

His mercy renews our hope and fills the empty spaces that our wanderings created.

What if we began to fully wait with anticipation as He fully knows our needs?

How much more abundantly we would live!

Maybe it is God who is waiting on us.

Waiting on us to trust Him.

To turn to His embrace.

In those unresolved, undecided and unsettled places, perhaps He is calling us out. That we might move deeper into trusting Him.

Closer in our walk.

More attuned to His voice.

Instead of mulling over the misery, our hearts begin pondering the present. And suddenly our lives breathe fullness.

Assured like the changing seasons.

In between the projects and beyond the busyness we see His fragrant promises flourish.

The color in our days becomes more vibrant, like the bluebird’s coat in spring.

And our thoughts, our dreams begin to take flight within the framework of His will for us.

Feathered and free.

The adventure now becomes watching for what He has in store!

Isaiah 40:31

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Daffodils.

Spilling yellow, like butter melting warm in the sun.

Ruffled ribbons of lemon chiffon.

Petals translucent in the late afternoon light as it streams angled through the window pane.

The clock ticks.

It is on this cusp of night that the robin sings his evening song.

…

For when we trust in Him, we come to learn that masterpieces take time.

And that our God is never finished writing our story until we are home with Him.

Each turn, each facet is a chisel of wisdom. A burnishing of the edges that He might soften our perspective to be more like His own.

A polishing of the person we were created to be in Him.

And while we fully wait on Him…He will fully deliver, without a doubt, all that He has promised to us!

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For some springtime fun: https://abcbirds.org/video-american-woodcock/