Have you ever seen a field of
tulips? From a distance it looks like a blanket of color….a beautiful, colorful
quilt. Up close they look majestic…standing tall with just a slight bow. I
associate tulips with Spring and change.
Some of you might be thinking, “Why
did you have to ruin everything by bringing up change?” Believe me, I know change isn’t a welcomed visitor, with
its stretching and pain. But change is good….
Let’s look
at our tulip friends again….Yes, they’re beautiful with their color and perfect
petals. However, beautiful as they may be, they didn’t start off that way.
Tulips are grown from bulbs….bulbs that can spring back to life even after
lying dormant for months, enduring frost and other elements; bulbs that
continue to undergo chemical change to prepare for the next cycle.
These bulbs have a biological clock
that tells them when to sprout roots, when to stem, when to sprout leaves and
when to flower and then finally when to die down and go into dormancy. In fact,
bulbs that sprout in Spring need to be planted in Fall while they’re fully
dormant.
So what can we learn from a dormant
bulb? Plenty!
Dormant is defined as, “not doing
anything at this time; not active but able to become active.” (Merriam-Webster
Dictionary). I love the BUT part of this
definition. When you see “BUT” be prepared to read something contrasting that
is being added to that sentence.
In our Christian walk, oftentimes we
lay dormant. Sometimes we’re dormant because we’re waiting on God’s direction;
we’ve prayed about something and are waiting to hear from God before we make
the next move or make a decision….and this is fine. However, most often we end
up in the dormant state because we’re just not
doing anything…….
This is a danger zone because in
this state, unlike our tulip friends, we don’t allow a natural biological clock
to continue working and telling us when to sprout roots, stem, sprout leaves
and flower. When we’re in this state we often isolate ourselves. We don’t allow
ourselves to hear from God, and if we do allow Him to speak to us, we push it
aside because, after all, we’re having a bad, dry season in our lives.
Been there…….done that……..
So, ask yourself, “What brought me
to this state of dormancy?” Look back and take inventory of what your life has
been like. What can you change? How can you expand your horizons? Have you allowed the circumstances of life to destroy your dreams? After assessing the damage, get ready to make a change. Plant yourself, like a bulb, into the soil and anxiously await the change...without fear.
Truth is we all go through seasons in our
lives. But the important thing is that we allow Him to be our biological clock
and sprout roots when He tells us to do so; stem when He sees that the time is
right; sprout leaves when He sees that we’re ready to branch out and
flower/bloom when the proper season has arrived.
And just as we read in Ecclesiastes
3:1 “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven…”
we will see colorful fruitfulness in His perfect time and season.
