How April Showers Bring May Flowers

Springtime is one of my most favorite times of the year because of flowers. I don’t have a favorite flower. I love all things that flower—trees, shrubs, annuals, perennials—you name it. If it flowers, I love it.

The Project

For the past month, I’ve been working in the garden. A neighbor down the street offered mulch if we’d come to get it from her driveway. Free mulch? Yes!! But that meant we had to first prepare the beds by removing weeds and cutting back the plants bitten by the cold … and then wheelbarrow loads of mulch from her house six houses away to our home. What a job.

After the project was done, I sat on my porch with my iced tea and thought about that familiar saying, “April showers bring May flowers.” The bed looked so pretty with the new mulch, but my azaleas, hydrangeas, orchids, and gardenias weren’t blooming yet. That would take time, plus warmer temperatures, rain, and longer days.

Weeding and Waiting

I wanted flowers to be blooming that day, but I needed to wait. I smiled as the thought came to me…I’m just like this garden. I’ve come through a dark, cold, and bleak winter, and with the first hint of spring, I weed, I trim, and I mulch my life. I want the flowers now. But the Lord says, “Wait.” Flowers will come, but not yet. The temperatures need to warm, the days must get longer, and the rains must come before the flowers will appear.

Then the thought came—most of my flowering plants don’t bloom on new growth. They only produce flowers on old growth. That means the plants needed to go through the cold and harsh winter to be ready to produce flowers in the spring. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like this part of life. However, I must admit that I don’t mature in my faith unless my faith is tested.

My Winter

I wrote in a previous post about my stepfather’s brain cancer diagnosis last July. I’m happy to report that he is doing well. He’s still taking chemo, but his progress is great, and his attitude is fantastic as he witnesses to anyone who will listen about God’s goodness.

Yet, this past January I think I finally slowed down enough to recognize the winter we’ve gone through. When you’re going through it you just do what needs to be done because you don’t have time to think. But when life slows down, and the weather begins to warm, you take stock of the garden and begin to recognize the toll the winter has taken.

Tending Life’s Garden

In my assessment, I realized I needed to get my garden—my life—ready for spring flowers:

I’ve done some weeding—removed some busyness from my life.

I’ve trimmed dead limbs—identified some mental hang-ups that I finally can see for what they are: thoughts that are not of God.

And I’ve added some mulch—refocused more of my time on relationships than on my to-do list.

That is a lot of hard work, I must say.

And now I wait. I wait for God to bring those April showers that will deepen the roots, nourish the plants, and bring forth the promised flowers. As I wait, I will continue to tend the garden because those pesky weeds will creep in, and dead limbs will still need to be trimmed. And, mid-year, I may need to refresh some mulch. And even if a few of those April showers come with thunderstorms, I know I will be in a much better place to weather those storms because of the winter and the spring.

I pray that April showers bring you May flowers, and I pray, too, that you will spend some time tending your garden. For, as this favorite hymn reminds us. . .

I come to the garden alone

While the dew is still on the roses

And the voice I hear falling on my ear

The Son of God discloses.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,

And He tells me I am His own;

And the joy we share as we tarry there,

None other has ever known.

He speaks, and the sound of His voice,

Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,

And the melody that He gave to me

Within my heart is ringing.

I’d stay in the garden with Him

Though the night around me be falling,

But He bids me go; through the voice of woe

His voice to me is calling.

Words: Charles Austin Miles (1912)

Cheri Cowell is the author of Direction: Discernment for the Decisions of Your Life and Parables and Word Pictures Bible study in the Following God series. www.CheriCowell.com

What weeds (busyness) need removing from your garden?

What dead limbs (ungodly thoughts) need removing from your garden?

What mulching (relationships vs to-do list) rearranging must you do in your life’s garden?

Have you tarried with God in your garden? He’s there waiting for you no matter the season.