Even When Your Cherry Tree Doesn’t Blossom
There is so much these days to cause us anxiety and fear. Earlier this week, not too far from where I live, a fourteen-year old girl stabbed her older sister in the neck with a large knife, killing her. What would drive a kid to do that? Some of what causes us stress is not single events (like the murder I just referenced), but instead, stuff that just seems to drip, drip, drip. Maybe you wonder, “Will this pandemic ever go away. Will things ever get back to some sense of normalcy?” I venture to guess that not a day goes by where something doesn’t leave us shocked, saddened, angry, anxious, fearful.
We spend our days worrying and fretting, often times needlessly and none of us are immune to bad things happening; some of it life changing, other times not so much. But in either case, we experience some degree of negative feelings and emotions. It could be a family member is one of the half million Americans who have died from COVID-19. As you were ready to leave work for the day your boss called you into her office and told you that your hours were being reduced due to the company’s declining sales, leaving you worried about how you will be able to pay for your daughter’s upcoming wedding. Your son sits on the bench while the coach’s son gets to play all the innings, even though “everyone knows your kid is the best player on the team.”
[Let me briefly pause and say that I am in no way diminishing any struggles you might be facing, whether they are big or small, or those times when you have reason to have legitimate fears and concerns.]
Regardless of the severity of what is causing anxiety, worry or fear, we are clearly called in Scripture to be prayerful rather than be consumed by undue concern. In Philippians 4:6-7 we read – “Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life” (MSG).
And not only are we told to pray, we are also supposed to worship and trust God, even when we don’t really feel like it – “Though the cherry trees don’t blossom and the strawberries don’t ripen, Though the apples are worm-eaten and the wheat fields stunted, Though the sheep pens are sheepless and the cattle barns empty, I’m singing joyful praise to GOD. I’m turning cartwheels of joy to my Savior God. Counting on GOD’s Rule to prevail, I take heart and gain strength. I run like a deer. I feel like I’m king of the mountain!” (Habakkuk 3:17-19, MSG).
So, today, even if your cherry trees aren’t blooming or are frozen in the ice, ask Jesus to replace the worry and anxiousness you have with the calm and peace that only He can bring!