BLOSSOM

About this time of year, as hints of spring are beginning to bloom outside, something in the inside of us often longs for blooming. I think God designed us to want to grow spiritually. Something deep inside us wants to deepen our roots in His Word, wants to flourish as His daughters, wants to thrive in the roles He’s established for us, wants to love and live well, and wants to grow in His grace. But I’ve noticed in my own walk with the Lord, sometimes I feel stuck. Instead of growing, I feel like I’m wilting a bit. Instead of flourishing, I feel like I’m stuck in a striving mode. Instead of blooming, I feel like I’m just going through the motions.

God loves to blossom spring in our hearts. He is the One who loves to bring our hearts fresh hope, stir in us a newness and a fresh stirring of joy, delight us with His nearness and love, uproot the gunk in our hearts that’s suppressing our joy, and bring a beauty and light to our hearts that nothing else in the world can bring quite like He can.

But here’s the sweet thing, we don’t have to manufacture spring in our hearts. We don’t have to force the blooming. God is the One who does the growing, blooming, and flourishing. By His grace and love, He nurtures the soil of our hearts as we lean on Him. He prepares our hearts for growth, He digs deep in our souls to encourage us, He develops the fruit in our character, and He is the Master Gardener. God is the gardener of your heart and soul. And He wants to tend it. He wants to tend YOUR heart and soul. How precious is that! How sweet that the big God of the universe, delights in tending your heart and soul.

Psalm 63:1 says, “You, God, are my God…” Hold up right there! He’s my God! He’s your God. He’s our God. And the One, true God wants to work in our hearts, so personally, so that we can experience all that He intended for us when He created us! He doesn’t want us to miss out on the beauty, growth, and blossoming He has for us! He wants to garden our souls. He’s a master at it.

So just for today, let’s simply allow our hearts to soak in this one precious truth for our spring-hungry hearts: God is the Master Gardener of YOUR heart, and He delights in nurturing your heart so that it blossoms, flourishes, and thrives. Psalm 63 goes on to say, “…earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.” I think this desire for spiritual growth comes when we feel parched and dry. We feel thirsty for more of God. And I think deep down we know that He is the answer. We know that He’s the One who will bring spring to our hearts. So be encouraged today that He delights in nurturing your heart and soul, and today He is at work in you to bring new life and new growth in you for your good and His glory.

Prayer: “Lord, thank You that You are the Master Gardener of my heart. Here are the ways I feel thirsty to know You deeper and to grow spiritually. (List those things here.) Begin a fresh blossoming in my heart today.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17