There is a way that seems right to a man but its end is the way of death. -Proverbs 14:12

Above all else guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. -Proverbs 4:23

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? -Jeremiah 17:9

Pretty right? I LOVE color and the lightness it brings into my life. It’s May and tulips are in their prime, and a neighbor has been bringing them impromptu. I love the splash it adds, the beauty I see each time I look up from my PC, the distraction from what is typically very trying work. Absolutely lovely.

Here’s the thing: these flowers are dead. They’ve been plucked and will soon be in the trash or compost. Physical beauty is fleeting, and no matter how pretty they are now, it’s temporary.

Here’s what they look like now.

Sure, there’s still some color there. But the initial beauty of the blooms has lost its luster. If I’d wanted them to last, they would have needed to be rooted. Had they been, God would have caused them to bloom in fertile soil at the proper time. He created the soil. He created the flower. He manages the weather and seasons. He knows when it’s time for His flowers to bloom. When we try to grow, bloom, be beautiful without Him, or attempt to be a flower He didn’t design us to be, we get out of sync. We don’t hear the instruction. We don’t know what the soil needs, and we certainly don’t have the understanding of seasons we need to grow successfully and with purpose.

I’ve been seeking The Gardener’s heart for years, with varying degrees of success, and any success I’ve found is thanks to Him and HIs grace in choosing me. There have been and will continue to be difficult seasons, and that’s okay. But, no matter how amazing or awful a season feels in the moment, I can say with honesty it’s always been about my perspective and where I fix my eyes.

When I fix my eyes on the problem, what I don’t have, the hurt, the harm, the loneliness, the pain…the results are continued remembrances of the hurt, harm, loneliness and pain.

When I fix my eyes on Jesus though…my perspective can shift. I see not a problem, but an opportunity to grow. I acknowledge the hurt, harm, loneliness, and pain, but I don’t live there. God’s Word reminds me that these present challenges in my life are refining the parts that don’t belong. He’s equipping me (albeit painfully) for the incredible future He has for me.

He’s doing the same for you. If you’re in it, there’s a purpose for it. Trust Him with your seasons. He is faithful.

The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever. – Isaiah 40:8