Sheshequin Shubbery

Along my drive everyday there is a section of road with a cliff down to the river on one side and a cliff almost straight up on the other.  Last winter I was mesmerized by the ice that formed on the cliff.  Thick, solid ice that clung to the rocky face.  So thick that I was sure it would be June before the ice would be melted away.  It was beautiful in all its solid icy-ness, in some places an icy blue, effected by the environmental effects on the frozen water.

Spring came and the ice soon vanished (long before June), and in its place were trickles of water finding their way down from the hill above.  Depending on the rains that fell there were sometimes waterfalls of assorted sizes tricking, drizzling, or gushing down the cliff.  

As the temperature slowly increased and the days ticked by, we noticed small bits of green appearing on the rocky cliffs.  Some places it didn't even look as if there was room for anything to have a root structure let alone a good soil to grow from.  But grow the vegetation did.  As Spring slipped into Summer, greens of all sorts flourished up and down the cliff.  Trees and shrubs bloomed and were full of blossoms and leaves.  Grasses grew tall.  And "weeds" of all sorts filled in the rocky cliffside. 

I thought of the purpose of all that foliage.  What was its purpose?  It was just going to die. It could die if it was starved of water, baked in the hot sun. It would die when the temperatures dipped and froze them all off.  Did that effect how they grew?  Did the trees hesitate to flourish because their life might be cut short?  The trees further up the hill would flourish and thrive year round as it went in and out of season, living its life.  Did the plants on the rocky cliff look at the pines further up the hill and wish they were them?

No.  Every bit of green strived to be the best plant it could be.  Sprouting, budding, shining in the sun.  I remember driving by one day and the leaves of one of the bushes fluttered and danced in the wind-simply shining and being beautiful.  God created those plants to be what they are and they delivered.

Come Autumn the leaves turned pretty colors and the grass that hadn't dried up during the end of the summer drought began to wilt.  The temperature begins to drop and ice begins to grow up and down the cliff.  Before long the ice will be thick and completely covering the cliff face and effectively smothering and killing all the foliage that just spent eight months striving to grow and go through their life cycle.  Now they are gone.  Their life, a simple, short season.  But they did everything God put them on the earth to do. 

The foliage on that cliffside will not be seen by garden extraordinaries, no tours to see their amazing colors, their timber would never build anything, their fibers won't be turned into a fancy basket.  But they flourished just as God intended.

It's so easy to look at my life and think that what I'm doing is unimportant, that times of my life have no purpose.  But God created me to be what he has chosen for me to be.  There may be times that I am flourishing, shining in the sun.  There may be times where I'm crushed and smothered with cold, hard ice.  Even if my life cycle is cut short.  The time that I'm living and flourishing I want to strive to be the best I can.  To be a shining example that I'm straight on track for what God has for me. Everyday focusing others on Christ.

I'm reminded of  a few verses:

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, 

"plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

 plans to give you hope and a future."  Jeremiah 29:11

"And we know that for those who love God

 all things work together for good, 

for those who are called according to his purpose."  Romans 8:28

"The plans of the Lord stand firm forever,

 the purposes of His heart through all generations." 

Psalm 33:11

No matter what comes our way and regardless of the ups and downs; we are safe and comfortable in the very center of where God puts us!