Getting up this morning, I am encouraged that we might see a break in the rainy pattern of late, and that the day may be bright and sunny. I would love to see a few more flowers on my plants before the cold comes and I must mulch them under for protection from the winter season.

Sometimes, pruning and mulching is exactly what happens in our recovery and spiritual lives. I know I am all about the sunshine; big colorful blooms and dense green foliage lit up by the intense rays of the summer sun. But it is said, all sun makes a desert. And so it is with our lives as well. Our Creator knows us intimately and so He turns the page and another season is upon us, unbidden or no.

In my my life, I have seen it time and again, that I have lots of friends when times are good and there are good things happening. But when there are struggles, when I fall down and need help, and even I don’t realize it, that is actually when I am in the most need of friends. Because it’s great to have friends to party and shop with, and do nice things for, but what happens when the rubber really hits the road? When I am not easy to love or to be around? Do my friends hang in there and speak gentle truth into my life? After I pull my head out of my bum, are they ready with a smile to welcome me back into their company?

God’s word says:   A friend is always loyal,
and a brother is born to help in time of need.  Prov 17:17

This verse has borne out in my life time and again that I may have many that come and go, but those who shoulder in during hard times, are my family. Because some relationships are meant to be annuals, and some are perennials. God made both, for different purposes. And it’s not to say that I have not been an annual in someone else’s garden as well, due to a host of reasons. Some people just aren’t meant to stay longer, because of a variety of different reasons and that’s okay, it’s not personal.

But that doesn’t mean the season of pruning and mulching doesn’t cause some amount of sadness and disappointment. The hard lesson is when the leaves appear to be perennial and turn out to be annual. Ouch.  But I can choose now to look at it as just another page-turn, another step in the journey that God is gently leading me on.

In this season, I give thanks for the beauty that is before me, the covering and protection of God’s provision of my life.

Wishing all of you a blessed Sunday my sweet friends. 🌺🌸🌼