Blossoming

Key Verse
“He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.” – Psalm 1:3 (ESV)

On my walk to and from the workspace I use during the week, there is a square where about a dozen cherry blossom trees are planted around a small stream that runs through the square. Like clockwork every March, beautiful pink flowers bloom from the tree. 

It’s a magnificent site to see each spring. And it seems like everyone in town notices as well – every day, there are dozens of people who are in the square taking photos and selfies of the blooming cherry blossoms. 

When I first moved here, I wondered about the little stream that runs through the square, but on one of my Spiritual Retreat days a couple of years ago, the Lord helped me recognize how green everything in England was. The park I was in was busting from the seams with beautiful green plant life. 

I’m from North Texas, where sometimes it feels like a desert because we get so little rain. But here in England, everything is so green! From late March to August, trees, grass, shrubbery, everything is so leafy, green and full of life. Why? Because it rains so much here!

On that day, the Lord reminded me the reason everything blooms so beautifully here is because of the abundant access to water. 

Suddenly, the small stream in the square didn’t seem random or arbitrary. It provides life-giving nutrients to the soil and roots so that those dozen cherry trees will bloom each March. 

Gabe Bernal

Reflection Verse

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing”

– John 15:4-5 (ESV)