Transitions can be amazing. Flowers like this “Salsify” go through three distinct stages: first is the long, thin bud. A green sheath that is gradually prised apart by lovely purple petals, sadly for just a short time. The open flower is striking, but withers in a couple of days. Then the flower “retreats” into its bud form whilst the pollinated flower is changing. Third stage sees the bud open again, with an inverted cone-shape of seeds on parachutes- an angular dandelion on steroids!
So often we are frightened of change. It is unsettling, uncomfortable, and usually beyond our control.
Yet if we accept that change is an essential part of life, we can embrace change as an adventure.
We cannot see the end result at the beginning of the process. Naturally, we are hesitant! Ultimately, all is revealed; and we can then rejoice in the stages of beauty and fruitfulness. God sees us as beautiful and of immense worth. But we only see it in hindsight. Looking back over the transitions in our lives is a great discipline- we can see how God has revealed purpose and truth, and how our characters are formed. Like the plants, we establish seeds of life to be given away freely, just as the wind disperses the little “parachutes” to be planted and rooted anew. And God sees what is revealed in us- and says “It is very good.”
Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground — everything that has the breath of life in it — I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning — the sixth day. (Genesis 1:29-31).
The Reflectionary 