Daily Worship

Unexpected Crocuses

Fiona Reynolds September 11, 2018 0 0
crocuses
Image credit: F Reynolds

Isaiah 34: 1-4

1 Draw near, O nations, to hear;
    O peoples, give heed!
Let the earth hear, and all that fills it;
    the world, and all that comes from it.
2 For the Lord is enraged against all the nations,
    and furious against all their hordes;
    he has doomed them, has given them over for slaughter.
3 Their slain shall be cast out,
    and the stench of their corpses shall rise;
    the mountains shall flow with their blood.
4 All the host of heaven shall rot away,
    and the skies roll up like a scroll.
All their host shall wither
    like a leaf withering on a vine,
    or fruit withering on a fig tree.

Crocuses appeared in my garden at the end of August. Yup, you read right: crocuses. In August. Almost as wonderfully unexpected as crocuses in the desert.  

What has caught your eye recently as something unexpected? Something out of place? A reminder that the amazing and extraordinary is often lurking right around the corner? Like a voice crying out in the wilderness… or feeble knees made firm… or streams in the desert… or courage in the midst of fear…

Have a look at some of Craig Greenfield’s reflections on life in a Cambodian slum, and be prepared to be surprised by unexpected crocuses (craiggreenfield.com).

 

You are the God of the unexpected:

Of rainbows through the rain

and springs in the desert;

You are the God who promises freedom to the oppressed

in ways our minds cannot fathom,

comprehend,

or imagine;

Bring freedom— 

life in all its technicolour glory— 

to each soul wrestling against the chains of injustice

locked in place by themselves or others;

So be it, now and always, AMEN.