Blooming even after a drought

It's not the one who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of this process but God, who makes things grow. Planting and watering are menial servant jobs at minimum wages. What makes them worth doing is the God we are serving. You happen to be God's field in which we are working.  I Corinthians 3:7-8 (MSG)

Yesterday as pulled into our driveway from going grocery shopping I saw that we had a gardenia bloom.  My husband planted these in the spring so I thought it was odd to see it have a bloom now.  All day I had that flower in the back on my mind. how could there be a bloom now, after a scorching hot summer, after a summer of drought even though my husband faithfully watered it. 

Later that evening as we pulled into our driveway I saw not only the flower but another bud beginning to bloom. I heard in my heart "I am the one that brings growth regardless of time or seasons".  We go through so many 'events' in our life. Many times that we might feel like things are too 'hot' or seasons of drought. However I am encouraged and reminded that even if we have moment of dormancy in our life God is the one that still bring growth.

What do I mean? Think about the grass and how in the fall it begins to brown, it is going into dormancy for the winter.  We might water it still but really once the winter hits it is just there. Some how it knows when it is time to return to its color of green and then the lawn mowers come out because it grew! We might feel like things or just ourselves go through dormancy but then God brings growth into our life.  We need to continue to water our hearts, to be planted by the streams of Life - God life!

I just know that the blooming that I saw yesterday was not just the gardenias in our driveway but the new buds blooming in my heart!

He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.  Psalm 1:3 (NIV)