“He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.” Mark 4:27-28 (ESV)

Since the last time I wrote here, I came down with a rather full upper respiratory infection (URI) that impacted everything from my ears and sinuses to my lungs. This was on top of a minor hip inflammatory issue that already had me slowing down quite a bit. It was not the way I had hoped to spend my Valentines weekend or the remainder of the month. But I settled in for the ride. I’ve learned to do that as I get older, and maybe a little wiser.

The first day I really began to feel bad, I was home by myself for quite awhile. I decided to just sit in the bed in quietness, no TV, no radio, no noise. I watched the daylight fade on the wall in front of me. I dozed off from time to time, but the congestion and the coughing would wake me up, so I would sit up feeling every symptom but also listening for the Spirit to speak. As the day turned to night, the Spirit began to be what He is the most, a Comforter (John 14:15-17). In those quiet moments, I understood the necessity of the time not only for my body to fully heal and be restored of things I didn’t even know had invaded it, but also to be fully healed and restored from a stockpile of feelings of hurt, rejection and toxic relationships that I had neatly tucked away. The following days included a trip to an urgent care, taking lots of medicine, sleeping, reading Scriptures, meditating, journaling, anything that could be done from the comfort of my bed. As I regained my strength, I slowly entered back into my routines. I am still not fully in all the routines I was in and I am not sure I need to be either.

One morning, when the sun was warm, and I felt the need to be outside, I took a slow stroll around the neighborhood. It’s that time of year for the yellow jasmine to begin peeking out of the dreary woods. Instead, I came upon this bush. Out of the brown earth and pine straw, the spindly limbs were reaching up and out. Then I saw it; the tiny little buds of leaves just beginning to pop out of their shells. The first buds of spring, delighted my heart. While I was sleeping and rising, life was renewing around me. While I was sleeping and rising, I was being renewed. Since the last time I wrote here, while I was sleeping and rising, life was moving along. While I was sleeping and rising, God spawned a new season of growth in my life that is just like the tiny buds on the bush that are just beginning to peep out in m world. Though my body was still ejecting the residual congestion (the brown ground), new growth was springing out. It’s springing out with fresh ideas and directions to take. It’s springing out with a renewed connection with the Lord. As I begin to be fully restored, the ear will follow and eventually the full grain. But for now, I am delighting in this moment.