Making room for the new

My violets have been in desperate need of trimming off the old blossoms and dead leaves, and I finally got around to it this week. You know those tasks you keep rewriting to the next day's to do list? Now I can officially mark it off. As I was pulling the dead leaves off one of my larger plants, my daughter asked me something like, "Mama, why you pull those off?" It must have seemed strange to her to see her mama pulling leaves off a plant after all the lectures she's heard about looking and not touching, being careful with flowers, etc.

"I have to pull off the dead stuff to make room for the new", I replied. 

Then I thought about my response more, and marveled at how true that is in all of my life. How many times have I heard God say lately, "You need to clean out the old stuff, so you can make room for the new seasons I'm bringing you".  Any gardener would laugh at the thought of that African Violet tenaciously clinging to it's dead blossoms despite the promise of new, fresh blossoms and baby leaves.

Yet, how often do I hold on to stuff, memories, old dreams, etc despite God's whispers to me of new seasons with new life.  

As we prepare for our next little one to arrive this year, my mind automatically starts wondering about space.  Where will they sleep? Where am I going to fit his/her clothes? How do I keep track of multiple sizes of diapers? Though I haven't gotten it done yet, I've mentally been making a list of areas that need to be cleaned out and stuff donated so I can fit in our new blessing. And not just 'stuff'', but there is a letting go of activities or old manners of doing things as our family grows.   I've been volunteering at Good News Club at the Elementary school for 6 or 7 years, and my littles have attended with me. But with our new addition coming, I've said farewell to that season.

While there may be grief in letting go of the old, there is also excitement in looking forward to the new. 

Without winter there couldn't be spring. Without a seed giving of itself, we could not have fresh growth. I've been processing what it means to minimize what is not essential, so I can maximize space and time for those people and activities we love most. I have so far to go, so don't look to me for solutions. If anyone has this all figured out, please share your ideas in the comments. :-)

And while it may be a slow process to trim away my old blossoms, I look forward to the new seasons promised me. 

The next step in our journey

The last four months have been a series of choices.....choices to choose trust over fear.  It began with taking our pregnancy test. Being friends with some dear ladies who have either lost precious little ones or who long for them but are unable to have them, puts a different perspective on having my own. It is not a blessing to be taken for granted (as if we should take any blessing for granted), but rather an event to be received with gratitude and to be held with a loose grasp.

Knowing that every pregnancy carries its natural risks, and that life is never guaranteed to any of us, I  was fearful to make the news public....afraid in case something went 'wrong'.   Gently, the Lord whispered...."Trust me".

With each step of telling people at school or at church, my fear battled my trust.  I kept fearing the what if's, while the Lord kept whispering the 'trust me's'.

What if I tell people at school, then you take the baby to Heaven?          Trust me.
What if I post our 'announcement' on social media,  to immediately follow it with a sad one?    Trust me.
What about the risk of SIDS? What about all the other possible things that could go wrong?   Continually, the Lord whispers.....'Trust me.  Trust me that no matter what happens I will walk through it with you. Trust me that through the mountains and valleys, you will not go it alone. Trust me that I have a purpose that I want to accomplish in your life through every situation you go through.  Trust me, that nothing is a surprise to me. Trust me."

Somehow with all my vast four months of experience (ha!), I have a feeling that this is only the beginning of learning to trust God for this little one.