Last year we had some landscaping done at our
house.
It looked great.
A few weeks ago I was alarmed though because it seemed like an unusual deep freeze in our weather had killed a significant number of our shrubs and plants.
What was green and vibrant had become brown and extremely dead looking.
Very
discouraging.
But boy was I happy when I discovered this weekend that even the plants I was sure were goners are now sprouting signs of new life.
And it reminded me...
So often we look at situations in our lives and think they're finished... all done... without hope.
But they
aren't.
God still working... and no matter how bad things might look, His impulse is always toward restoration and life.
This, of course, should not surprise us.
As even Jesus is described as a shoot that came from a stump:
“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of
Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD” (Is. 11:1-2).