A time for roots

Not all times are growing up and out times or fruiting times.  Sometimes are rooting times.  Times to dig deep and drink in the nutrients.  Time in secret where no one else can see.  Times in the interior.

Today I lopped off the tops of my irises.  It was hard to do, but necessary.  The blades were wilting, laying on the ground.  Why?  Because I moved them, tearing up their root systems.  Then, the roots weren't strong enough to support the tops, so they wilted, flopped over, pitiful.  I went online and searched for answers: cut off the tops, it said, so the roots can grow without having to waste energy on the leaf fans and flowers.

Two more weeks until school starts.  I need to lop of my branches, stop producing, and just dig deep and drink deeply.

A better rest

Summer is winding down and I am getting a sinky feeling in my stomach.  Where did the time go?  How did the summer get away from me so quickly?  Why is the list of summer to-dos still basically untouched?  I envision little Trish, with hands pressed forward trying stop the speeding train that is time. 

In just two weeks the kids will fill up the halls again.  Homework will be assigned.  Quizzes will be given.  Audible groans will be heard.  Students will look longingly out of classroom windows thinking about anything and everything but math and Spanish and literature.

I'm not ready!

Maybe summer is different when you are an adult.  Maybe I don't feel like I've had a summer break because I didn't experience a child-like summer.  A summer where days are long and clocks tick slowly.  There is no sense of time slipping by, no reason to wear a watch.  Just endless days and books to read, pools to swim in, friends to see.

As I mourn my lost summer and continue to long for rest, I am reminded of a better rest, a summer rest that will not end.  "So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God..."

 The term is over:  the holidays have begun.  The dream is ended:  this is the morning.” And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them.  And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after.  But for them it was only the beginning of the real story.  All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page:  now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read:  which goes on forever:  in which every chapter is better than the one before.” The Last Battle, CS Lewis

Good wine

Jesus performed his first miracle at a wedding at Cana in Galilee.  Two years ago, I was beginning to wonder if Jesus could perform a wedding miracle for me.

The parade of gentleman that had come in and out of my life had brought a lot of longing and hope and disappointment. But none of them was "the one."  They didn't like me.  Or I didn't like them, but couldn't let go, fearing that there would never be anyone else.  The dating rollercoaster was not much fun and it felt endless.  Hope, sad, hope, sad, Hoooooope, disappointment, sad.....hope? 

In the fall of 2011, I read about Jesus and the wedding at Cana.  In the middle of the wedding festivities the wine ran out.  When Jesus learned this, he told the servants to get six stone water jars and to fill them with water.

Just water.

That's what my best efforts felt like: water.

Just water.

I couldn't make marriage happen.  That's all I could offer: water.

I had tried everything to find the right man to marry- praying, meeting new people, dressing nice, going on lots of dates, being open and friendly.  Nada.

Just water.

I tried to talk myself into marrying a man that I only liked as a friend- "No one promised fireworks.  There are arranged marriages every day. Why not just settle?  You can grow to love him.  You can make this work."

Just water.

Trying to make a guy like me or make myself like him, was like trying to turn water in to wine...impossible.

Just water.

Back to Cana.  Once the stone jars had been filled to the brim with water, some was drawn out and taken to the master of the banquet-

When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now. John 2: 9-10

Jesus turned the water into wine.  Not just any wine, the BEST wine.

That's what I felt He wanted for me- the best wine. He wanted to bring wine to my wedding!  Wine, a symbol of joy and gladness and blessing.  Wine, a sign of abundance and fruitfulness.  I could wait and trust in Him to bring the right husband for me.  A good husband.  A godly husband.  A husband that I didn't have to talk myself into marrying.  The right husband.  Good wine.

And though I knew that it might be God's plan for me to remain single, I found my heart confessing: God, even if you never bring me a husband here on this earth, I know there is a much better wedding that awaits me, that awaits all who trust in Christ. One day there will be a wedding and a feast and  our true husband will celebrate the homecoming of his beautiful, spotless Bride.

I am thankful that Jesus performed the miracle of a wedding in Charlotte, North Carolina on September 29, 2012, bringing good wine and joy and gladness and blessing into my life.

And I look forward to the day when He will perform another miracle, a forever miracle, finally bringing His Bride home to the place that He has prepared for us.

You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.  Psalm 4:7

For your love is better than wine.  Song of Solomon 1:2

I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”  Matthew 26:29

 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
    the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult
    and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
    and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
    with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”  Revelation 19:6-9


Come quickly, Lord Jesus!