Don't They know It's October?

 The other day I looked out into the garden and saw this crazy riot of color.  There are hundreds of blooms in my garden and I did everything wrong when I planted these seeds:  It was late in the season, I didn't water them, and I didn't pay close attention to their light requirements.

Don't they know that it's October!!!  Other plants in the garden are looking scraggly and are losing their leaves....they're reacting to the colder weather and shorter days, following their natural cycle.  

Getting back to the plant analogy from a post or two ago I looked out and thought to myself: "Wow, what kind of plant do I have to be to look like that!!?"  

As soon as I said it I realized that I don't get to choose what kind of plant I want to be.  God has created me and predetermined who I would be, complete with His wonderful plans and purposes for me.    But do I have a part in choosing to bloom, or even how I bloom,  where I am planted?

This week's lesson for my small group Bible study will cover the parable of the sower.   I know....how fitting, right?   In it, the sower sows the seed and the seed falls in different places.  I have to believe that the sower wills it that way and that the seed doesn't have a lot of say.     The job of a seed is simply to grow despite its circumstances, and in spite of  the weather conditions, and to trust that the sower has prepared a place where it will thrive.

Today I am facing a disappointment.   I feel like I'm giving/ it's taking a lot of the energy.    The circumstance in which I find myself will not change, but how I deal with it, is completely up to me. Do I give in to discouragement and let my countenance droop, or do I lift my face toward His radiant light and let Him do his thing.   I have to trust that He will sustain me...like that tree in Jeremiah 17 "...It does not fear when heat comes: its leaves are always green.  It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit...."

I want to be part of a crazy riot of color in my spot.    I want other plants to wonder why I'm not packing it in to prepare for winter but just bloom with reckless abandon.    Not hiding that I have disappointments but simply choosing NOT to dwell on them.  Hanging onto the promises because they will not fail.  Especially when it feels like October.....

I'm reading my Bible-In-A-Year.  Occasionally I get a few days behind, but I'm trying to stay on track.   The readings are from Jeremiah right now...and yesterdays' section was from Jeremiah 31....  These are pieces that I love.   "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness.  I will build you up again. ...For the LORD will ransom and redeem Jacob...   They will be like a well-waterd garden and they will sorrow no more.  They will turn their mourning into gladness;  I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow."  And from Jeremiah 32 "...Is anything to hard for me?  I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul."

Quick additional comment- Thanks Jannette for your comment!    This morning at Coffee Break we talked about God's Word taking root in our hearts.    THAT is what sustains us....in spite of what goes on around us.   The Word is the seed....and it has a lot to say :)

And I thought I would link up with Beki at The Rusted Chain for "Finger Print Friday".