Like magic, my yard awakens! Seemingly, overnight, tiny buds emerge where only dead limbs existed just a few short weeks ago.
I am continually amazed at the vegetation in the Southern Arizona desert. During the winter months, many plants look as if they have not an ounce of life left in them, but experience has taught me to — let them be — they will come back to life in the Spring.
I’m excited to behold these new blossoms, the signal that Spring has sprung. But, the time has come for the old growth (which has protected the sprouts all winter) to be removed, thus allowing the rebirth of foliage and flowers.
Nature has always spoken to my soul. My garden is a theophany, a visual manifestation of God. It helps me see the sacred in the ordinary and the magic in the mundane. It brings me to a peaceful state and restores harmony in my world.
So, when I am impatient with life, waiting for the Lord to answer my prayers, I sit among the blossoms and birds, and I am still. I believe that Jesus answers our prayers the moment we ask. They are held tightly in the seed, nurturing and growing. And at precisely the right time, just as my roses will open petal by petal, waiting to burst into bloom, I will smell the sweet fragrance of my answered prayers.
