After a long, hard winter I finally had the chance to get outside and start preparing my garden. I had discarded most of last year’s plants, either feeding them to the chickens or throwing them in the woods; all the plants except for my Morning Glories. From the outside, it appeared I had abandoned these plants that still lurked lifelessly in the corner of the fence. The vines looked ugly, dead, and invasive. They seemed to be neglected. However, the vines were so tightly inwoven through the garden fence that I thought it’d be easier to pull them out after winter when they’ve had a chance to dry out. Sure enough, a few days ago, I easily broke them loose and bundled them up ready to chuck into the woods. But as I was about to throw them into the wild, I observed several small, dry pods that I hadn’t noticed last fall. I gingerly squeezed one open to find roughly 5 dry seeds inside – the same amount of seeds I had started out with last year. And this was only one of numerous pods still attached to the vine. I sat down on the ground with my large viny bundle and grabbed a frisbee lying next to me to use as a bowl, filling it with countless hidden treasures of Morning Glory seeds. As it turns out, leaving Morning Glories in the never-ending, brutal winter allows the flowers to go to seed and produce 10x maybe even 100x the number of original seeds.

It’s been a long brutal winter of isolation and darkness. I’ve cried out so many times for relief wondering what God could still possibly have left for me here. I’ve been pruned to the core and from the outside, so much of my life appears dead. Invasive thoughts swirl around in my head like the vine along the fence in my garden and I hear voices from the outside saying, “God has forgotten you. You’ve been neglected.” But as I was journaling and telling God these things, I heard in my spirit, “Remember the Morning Glories. I am allowing you to go through a long, cold season of life. But I have not neglected you. Rather, I’ve let you go to seed. Inside of you, I am producing seeds that will eventually bear fruit 100-fold.”

Often it seems like life circumstances correlate with the earth’s seasonal changes. In the difficult winters that seem to drag on and on, milder days are a reminder that spring is coming and that God is always faithful in changing the season. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 says, For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

Thankfully, God does not keep us stuck in one season forever. He will always have more for us to learn. More opportunities to become like Christ, and more of God’s infinite splendor to reveal to us – taking us from glory to glory. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, ¹⁸ And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

In the long, harsh trials we gotta do some soul preaching to remind ourselves that we are not neglected and abandoned. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 2 Corinthians 4:8,9,16-18

In this lenten season in particular, God is producing in us seeds of faith and hope, seeds of belief and trust, seeds of character and determination, seeds of patience and endurance. Romans 5:3-5 says, ³ Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance produces character, and character produces hope…

In the dry and weary desert, in the long brutal winters, God has not abandoned us. He’s let us go to seed; and if we persevere in faith, we will soon look back to see a valley full of glorious flowers 100-fold.