Lying Fallow

"the land shall rest"

Leviticus 26:34

As I've shared, we went to visit family for Christmas last week.  The Apple of my Eye, our Awesome Girl and Amazing Boy, and I, drove for hours in the family sleigh, over the river and through the woods, to my sister's house in Nevada.  It was a wonderful time with my sisters and brothers-in-law, my parents, and for my kids and their cousins.

Our drive took us up through a lot of California.  From our home in the southern and coastal side of the state, to my sister's home in northern Nevada ~ which, by the way, is pronounced Nuh-vaa-duh, not Ne-vah-dah.  Spread the word.

For a long part of the trip, it was the same as the drive we had taken when we went camping last summer.  I wrote about that trip, and the beauty of the scenery we saw, celebrating fruitfulness in the land of fruit and nuts. 

So there we were seeing much of that same scenery again.  It was interesting how different it was from six months ago, and yet the same.  I mean, obviously the same plants, in the same places.  It was all very familiar to me.  After all, I've made that drive dozens of times in the years I've lived in California.

But where everything was lush and fruitful early last summer, it was dead or dying at this time of year.   Where there was green and full, there is now brown and grey.

And yet, in it's own way, it was still beautiful.  I've always loved the colors of winter.  Autumn is always lovely, with all its shades of reds and golds; but winter is beautiful too.  I love the starkness of trees without leaves, dark gray against the light gray of a cloudy sky.  And there are shades of brown, and rust and ochre.

I love the colors of the plants in winter, but I also love the knowledge that they are going through this season of "dying".  Because, of course, many of those plants and trees that look dead, are not.  They are simply going through the stages of life that God designed for them. 

So take heart, if you feel like that's you.  If you're in a season that doesn't seem to be characterized by growth and fruitfulness, just wait.  Know that you're in a season of resting, or waiting, and that spring will come soon. 

And know that you're beautiful, all year round.

~ "To everything there is a season,

a time for every purpose under heaven" ~

Ecclesiastes 3:1