Devotional | Seeking the Light

“Let your light shine…” – Matthew 5:16

God often speaks to me through nature, and after a long, wet winter on the eastern seaboard, I’m excited at the arrival of spring in Australia. There are clues everywhere that what lay dormant for months on end, is now bursting forth from its winter home.

The first sign at our house were the birds singing their happy songs again. To be honest they were noisy and repetitive, especially on a frosty morning when all I wanted to do was bury my head further under the covers, but they, in contrast, were revelling in the change of season with more hours of sunlight to forage for food, and fresh opportunities to attract a mate.

On my morning walks the air was fresher, the trees were budding with their leaves unfurling, new baby lambs sporting white woollen coats stood close to their mothers in the nearby meadows, and a tinge of vibrant yellow stood out against the green foliage of the Acacia trees along the roadside. I’ve seen it all before, but it still makes me smile because it reminds me of the faithfulness of God.

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22 & 23
I have often thought that the earthly seasons serve as a regular reminder of the way God works; they speak of his nature and the promise of what’s to come. God is always up to something, of that we can be sure. He is the Master Gardener who works in unseen places where things appear barren and lifeless (Winter). He hints at the beauty of what’s to come with buds and blossoms and the freshness of melting snow (Spring), and as the weather warms, He causes the sun to shine on all parts of the garden so they grow profusely and erupt into full bloom (Summer). But the pièce de resistance arrives in our gardens when the fruit is fully grown and ripe for picking (Autumn).

I love the harvest season. To pick a bunch of cherry tomatoes or cucumbers off the vine and bring them inside for dinner makes me smile. I hold them tenderly in my hands and wash them under running water, as if I’m the proud Mumma who made them. The truth is, without the seasons they wouldn’t exist. Without God, none of us would.

He is the Master Gardener who plants us and tends to us, he causes his sun (son) to shine upon us to bring us to maturity, and to create fruit that lasts.
I often muse about what God is doing. I know he’s working. As the song says, ‘Even when I can’t see Him, He’s working. Even when I can’t feel Him, He’s working. He never stops…’ and I’m glad about that, aren’t you? Yet even though God works in the seasons of our lives, God doesn’t change like the seasons—he remains the same, yesterday, today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) He’s a constant in our world.

“In Him, (Jesus) all things hold together.” Colossians 1:17

Last week I was soaking in the sunshine, enjoying my breakfast on our balcony when I noticed something green peeping through the soil in one of the planter boxes my husband had made. At the end of autumn, we had cleared away the dead foliage where the cucumber plants had been and left the soil to rest over winter. As I looked at the planter box and thought about what summer vegetables we might plant, I noticed something different. I craned my neck over the railing and my eyes went wide. There were three little bright green shoots peeping through the soil. Closer inspection revealed they were our jonquil bulbs. They were under the soil, unseen in winter, when my husband positioned the new planter box right over the top of them.

What amazed me was that although we had forgotten about the bulbs, they hadn’t forgotten their purpose. Although they were planted underneath the planter box, it didn’t deter them – they did exactly what they were created to do in Spring. Mind you, they worked very hard (much harder than they should have had to) pushing upwards of 40cm to reach the surface of the soil, but they did it! They overcame the obstacles. How? They stayed true to their purpose and sought the light. Nature is so wise. Yet, we too are created for a purpose, and if we keep our eyes and ears open to the Spirit of God, there’s no limit to the things we can do.

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9