Muddy Flowers

During my run this morning I was tiptoeing through a pile of mud praying I would not accidentally slide and fall in only to be completely mud covered.  Mid tip-toe I noticed a beautiful sight indeed.  In the midst of this dark pile of mud vibrant indigo flowers were making their way above the mud.  Instantly I was reminded of the following words directly from one of the most impact-full songs ever introduced to me, “Beautiful Things” by Gungor.

All this pain
I wonder if I’ll ever find my way
I wonder if my life could really change at all

All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found
Could a garden come up from this ground at all

All this pain
I wonder if I’ll ever find my way
I wonder if my life could really change at all

Today these indigo flowers were more to me than just a sign of spring as they would be to most.  When I saw these flowers I was instantly reminded of the perfect way God took my dirt and turned it into His beautiful garden.   I thought of the ground I was living on just four short years ago.  These thoughts are not something that brings back joyous, pleasant memories for me.  This time in my life was the absolute worst; a complete nightmare.  I thought the dark dirt beneath my feet was going to swallow me up and take my life completely.  This is what desperation looked like to me.  During this time I lost the only hope I had for a beautiful garden, God Himself.  I believed I could never find God’s love and presence and help in my life ever again.  If you only knew what my “dirt” was you would have thought the same.

God graciously surprised me during this time in my life.  He looked beyond my dirt and saw the flowers desiring to peek above.  God opened my eyes to see His mighty hand pulling me out of the trap I was in.  He made Himself known to me in such a powerful way.  The surprises continue today; I am constantly overcome with the love He has for me in different ways.  Today He graced me with His love by bringing these flowers along my path to remind me of what He alone has done in my life.  This love He brings me is something I still to this day cannot fully explain to you, there are just no words this side of Heaven.  I made a mess of my life and continue to, but God continues to see the flowers not the mess.

After sulking in this timeless reminder God taught me something new that I want to leave you with.

Sometimes we think that our garden has to be free of mud for God to be able to use us.  We cannot volunteer in that ministry that has been tugging on our hearts because our dirt is getting in the way.  We cannot talk with that person who God has brought along our path because we cannot possibly offer them anything other than dirt.  We let the dirt keep us from becoming all God has for us.

In this life, there will be dirt there is no way to get around this.  However, there will also be flowers springing out of this dirt.  God does not wait until there is no dirt to bring the flowers of His love, beauty, and grace into our lives.  God uses the dirt to grow each of us into the precious child He has carefully planned and perfectly created us to be.  We cannot wait until the mud dries up and disappears, if you do you will find you will be waiting forever.  We must let God in right where we are mud and all to let the flowers finally spring up all around us.   His beauty is found in our dirt filled garden and is meant to be shared with others whom need Him most.

Ecclesiastes 3:11:  He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.