Because in the end, a heart that longs for fruitfulness is also a heart that will work for it. A heart that hopes for goodness will plant and prune and wait and pray. Such a heart is not blind to the realities of life; it just knows no other way to live. And so understanding the stakes, such a heart stakes a claim anyway. Such a heart hopes in God.
Turning of Days p. 37
The garden and the church. Each produces early spring buds that call us to a “desperate hope” that is only buoyed by the reality of redemption. We see faithfulness emerge, swell, bloom; and we hope. And we pray. And we wait, for who knows what will come down the pike, what cold or disease or pest will threaten the potential of summer enjoyment. And people are more fragile than fruit, and we have an enemy more callous than a late frost or a voracious caterpillar. And yet despite the disappointments, discipleship calls us to hope and care and cultivate and wait and pray and trust.
And to never give up the excitement of seeing early buds.
Lingering Over Leaves 