It is beginning to happen. Little dark buds are swelling and turning yellow ... just ready to burst into bloom when the sun shines!
Winter has lasted a long time - or so it appears. The branches have been bare, almost looking as if they were dead. However, all the time there's been something happening and we're beginning to see signs of change.
The Parish Hall grounds have a number of Forsythia bushes so it was relatively easy to find the buds.
Forsythia was discovered in Chine by Robert Fortune. It was named after William Forsyth who was the director of the Chelsea Physic Garden in 1770 and was also the first designer to make a rock garden in England.
Maybe the forsythia is a parable for today ... never give up. When everything appears to be hopeless, even dead, there is still life working away in secret and new growth can and will appear. Sun, rain and nutrients in the soil all work together to herald spring again! There is hope! Never give up!
Revive your Church, O Lord,
in grace and power draw near;
speak with the voice that wakes the dead,
and make your people hear!
Revive your Church, O Lord,
disturb the sleep of death;
give life to smouldering embers now
by your almighty breath.
Church Hymnal number 308
Albert Midlane (1825-1909)
2 comments:
Once again I have found one of your posts really encouraging. I'd never thought of forsythia as a sign of hope like the olive tree. I didn't know they are related. I savagely attack our forsythia shrubs every year, sometimes cutting them almost to the ground, but they are indestructable and flower all the better in the end.
Thanks Nancy ... sometimes something like a bursting bud just "speaks" into situations that can appear very dark and bleak ... reminders that spring will come, there is life in apparently dead wood and new growth is possible.
The best way to deal with forsythia is, as you do, cut it right back ... then you get thick bushes covered in flowers the following spring.
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