Crocus flowers were always the first flowers to sprout up, in the garden of the home I grew up in. Often they poked through some snow to herald the coming spring. They grow from a bulb planted in the fall. During winter they are buried under snow and ice. Being able to push their way out to the sun and changeable weather of Spring is a testament to their perseverance.
I’ve been thinking how our life may be like the crocus. We were planted here for a purpose by the Master Gardener. When he places a bulb in the ground he covers it gently with good soil. He expects it to grow and bloom in the early spring. But, like the crocus bulb, we may pass through a mild winter or a very cold, hard winter. We my feel our life is buried and no one, not even The Gardener, remembers we are here. We may feel the pressure of the rain soaked soil or the load of snow or even ice. But His life inside us is causing us to grow. Suddenly our stretching leaves and bud break the surface and we see the bright light of the sun. The joy of that breakthrough is worth all the time buried and growing.
Now, I know this is not a perfect analogy. Actually, as I was about to erase it and try something else, I realized it has a lot of applications. Our new birth in the beginning of our walk with God is very like this budding of the crocus. Then in our walk with God, there are times in all of our lives and long seasons in other’s lives that feel like we have the weight of winter on our backs and nothing is happening. But when we breakthrough, we see He has grown us during that dark time.
We will all have a dark time at the end of our lives. It may be short or long, but we will burst forth when our time here is finished. He will keep His promise to us to live in His ‘dwelling’ forever!