A Concord Pastor Comments: Praying 10 Minutes a Day:Fourth Week/Wednesday

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In my part of the world, nature is budding and opening in yards and parks everywhere you go! It's a sure sign of spring and there's no reason to doubt, in fact it never occurs to us, that anything less than beautiful flowers will blossom forth from these folded green forms, tinged with but a hint of yellow beginning to appear.

We trust the signs of spring around us, that give us hope as we leave winter behind. We expect the fulfillment of what is promised. We hope in the beauty that waits, wrapped so tightly, until spring rains and the sun's warmth open and reveal what's hidden within.

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What are the signs of promise and hope

budding in my desire and prayer

for something more than what I have right now?

What small moments of strength and bravery

are budding"bud" in my heart,
giving me courage to dream, to hope to trust again?

If winter still weighs on me,

and I looking for those buds?
do I hope to find them?

do I expect to find them?

Even when I'm wrapped tightly

in the folds of my worry,
God waits to open me,

to reveal what's within me,
to draw forth so much more

than I can even dream of...

When I find buds of hope in my life,
do I trust and hope and pray

that God will bring them to blossom?

When spring stirs in my heart,
do I trust that God is working within me,

heart and soul, mind and body,
bringing forth the goodness, the truth,

the best of who I am?

Lifting my face to the light of God's love
and my soul to the moisture of his anointing,
who knows what might spring to life from within me,
how God might refresh and restore

my trust and hope?

Where there are buds

there is beauty waiting to bloom
in my yard, in my hope, in my heart...

It's the first day of spring

and as surely as nature stirs
in the still chilled earth,
so does the Lord stir within me,
calling me to new life...