nature – Lauri Hawley

Bury

Snow is falling again and burying my flower garden, but I know that spring is coming. It will soon be time for planting and watering, waiting for sprouts to break through the soil. Most of them would be eaten by birds if not covered with a layer of dirt. If the seeds aren’t buried, how can I expect new flowers to grow?

Seeds are funny things. Some need to be buried in deeper soil, others under just a thin layer to hide from birds’ view. Some need winter cold for several weeks in order for the spring warmth to kick-start their growth. All need time and water to begin the process of becoming something new.

So it is with planting seeds of God’s love in the hearts of those around us. They may be far from him today, but only he knows the harvest to come from seeds we sow now. We don’t know the circumstances the seeds will need to take root in their hearts. Seasons of difficulty (plowing, drought, or arctic cold)? Seasons of blessing that could only come from God (gentle breezes and rain showers)? How often will watering be needed? How much weeding and pruning will God have to do in their lives? Will we see the growth, or will that be someone else’s joy? So much is beyond our understanding, but none escapes his.

We plant seeds of God’s word and his love through our words and actions, trusting him to make the seed grow in his way and in his time. He is the master gardener!

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Romans 10:17 ESV

Who needs what you have to share today?

This post is written in response to Kate Motaung’s Five Minute Friday link-up. These prompts are fun to respond to, and only take five minutes to compose. Today’s prompt: BURY.

Rhododendron Insights: Adapting to Life’s Seasons

I was worried earlier this winter when all of my smaller-leafed rhododendrons had turned burgandy and curled up tightly. Had I killed them by pruning them too deeply after they flowered last year?

Rhododendron leaves curled up and brown against a backdrop of snow

I’ve written before about senescence, in which the rhodies’ older leaves turn yellow and fall off in the autumn. Even the evergreens lose their leaves and needles sometimes!

My Winter Forest Discovery

When I look out my kitchen window, I can see a little tree in the distance still holding onto its golden leaves deep into the winter cold.

Discovering Life’s Unexpected Joys in 2025

This is our first winter in our new home in the mountains, and we’ve moved far enough away from the ocean that it no longer softens the winter chill. Temperatures have regularly dropped below freezing, and watching what happens in the perennial garden has been fun!

Discovering Holiday Joy: Nature’s Ice Needles

What I saw last week is in my top ten list of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. It was a few days after my last foggy post, when we had almost three and a half inches of rain. The temperature had dropped to highs below freezing over the next several days, with lows in the teens. Look at what I discovered in the ground!

Fruity Wishes

We passed a few patches of viburnum on our hike up South Moat Mountain last week. We didn’t snack on the bright red fruits, preferring the known apples we carried with us to the unknown effects of unidentified berries growing in the woods.