We have a dogwood tree in our backyard. A few springs ago, all the others in the neighborhood were blooming in their pink and white glory while mine was still sleeping in the corner.
I thought the dogwood was dead. I gave it a closer look and discovered it had new growth coming, the promise of something happening. I wanted to shake it a little and wake it up, but I settled for talking: “Come on! Pretty please. Bloom! We’re leaving soon on a trip and I don’t want to miss your show.” It snoozed on.
The friend who house-sat for me during our trip had the pleasure of the dogwood’s beautiful display. Maybe the timing wasn’t just right for me, but it was for her.
Everything happens in God’s perfect time. The wise king Solomon communicated this beautifully in Ecclesiastes 3. Not only does Solomon say there is a season, or time, for “every activity under heaven,” he ends with the striking statement that “God has made everything beautiful for its own time” (v. 11). What looks wrong, out of sync, or just plain ugly to us is simply unfinished to God. His plans are not yet complete. He has the ability to bring beauty out of everything—in its perfect time, which he alone determines. As Solomon says, we can’t see “the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” It’s far beyond our comprehension. So our role is to wait patiently, trusting that he can make everything beautiful—even the messes of our own lives. Sometimes the things that look dead are just getting ready to grow.
Francine Rivers is a New York Times bestselling novelist who is thrilled to bring readers her first devotional, Earth Psalms: Reflections on How God Speaks through Nature (Tyndale). You can find her online at www.francinerivers.com.
