By Chris Bates
The outdoors can be a canvas for us to shape and use well. From our backyards to farm fields, the earth can at times look empty or bare on the surface. Then, as we apply growth and life to it, transformation happens.
Driving through the north Mississippi Delta early in the year, the landscape seems bland and blank. Row crops are gone, the treelines are gray and leafless, and water covers some of the fertile ground. In the fields, only onion grass and stray groundcover provide any color.
Drive through again in a few months, though, and crops are sprouting, young bright leaves cover the trees, and warmer air accompanies springtime flowers. It looks like life more abundant.
At home, we have a great backyard, but we’ve been looking at a large bed area with nothing in it since we moved in. Our dogs enjoy it, and our deck looks out over this area that has great potential, but we have not put work into it. Until now, we’ve only talked about what it can be.
So we made a plan this past winter. We visited nurseries, measured it out, selected plants, and saved for it. With springtime here, it was time to bring it to life. With a trailer load of trees, shrubs, grasses, and dirt, we set them all out in the area, and the vision came together. Now we can nurture the space and enjoy it to the fullest.
In these same ways, God works both in us and on us, but we first sometimes experience the blank and gray scenes. Each of us has seasons that look or feel hard or desolate. Those may come in the form of loss, fear, trials, health problems, addiction, abandonment, or self-caused issues. Whatever the flavor, those challenges can be dark, real, and personal. For God’s children, though, grace and hope can plant new seeds.
Romans 8:28 reminds us, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” He works in ALL things for us. That means He sees and has His hands on the whole landscape. When the ground seems blank, there is new life ahead.
Transformation happens. Lostness becomes purpose. Past handicapping traumas become pathways to new ways to live. Sorrow is replaced by relationships. Fear is pushed away by hope and spiritual connection. There is always an opportunity for new growth.
If you are waiting for transformation or need your season to change, it is coming. It is rarely how or when we think it should be, but we are not in charge of outcomes. We are responsible for taking steps and watering seeds. With God’s hand on it, nothing will always become an amazing something.
Chris Bates is CEO of AgoraEversole, a full-service marketing agency in Jackson, and can be reached at Chris@AgoraEversole.com. He and his wife, Stacy, live in Madison and have adult children and three grandboys.
