All in God’s Time

This year has been a crazy year here in the Carolinas, when it comes to weather; a somewhat early spring, a late start to summer, exceptionally high temps in the late summer, lack of rain, too much rain at one time, and the list goes on with all of the unusualness in this year’s weather cycle.

For years I have grown fennel for the butterflies. Yes, it’s an herb that can be used in cooking but it is also a host plant for swallowtail butterflies. I’ve tried to capture the entire life cycle in photos but I’m not fast enough. It’s as if the caterpillars magically appear overnight and consume the fennel right down to the ground. As a teacher, I know that the egg comes first but I’ve never seen them. The caterpillars on the fennel is usually one of the first signs that spring is over and summer has arrived. This year, no caterpillars, at least not when I usually see them. My fennel got so tall a storm blew it over. As I was cutting flowers a few weeks ago, I looked out and my fennel was almost gone. I went outside and both of my plants were covered in dozens and dozens of caterpillars, happily munching themselves into a chrysalis coma.

I also always plant zinnia seeds. Most of the time I am itching to get them into the ground as soon as the frost is over. This year I drug my feet. It was June before my husband and I put the first zinnia seeds in the ground. They are just hitting their stride. Another flower growing friend said hers were already done for the season. She couldn’t believe I still had blooms.

I tell you all of this just to say that nothing has really changed. Now I’m not here to strike a debate but there are entities out there that have continuously yelled global warming… I mean climate change… or whatever the terminology of the day is. If you fill a glass with ice and then fill with water, when the ice melts, the glass does not overflow. Think about that for a second. The ice cap is melting. The seas are getting higher. Really! The weather people on those round-the-clock stations try to fill every moment with drama. Yes, there are weather systems that cause drama to occur but its all a part of God’s plan and time and he has told us that there is a time for everything. Our weather comes in cycles. Seasons follow in order just like the Bible tells us. So what if spring runs into June?

Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us, “there is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under the heavens:”

Please read the rest of the chapter. It is filled with all the things we must have a time for.

Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to 5“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.[a]

You might ask why this Proverb. It is straight forward. We don’t have to have a weatherman to create drama for us. Just listen to what the Bible tells us. Did I really believe there would be no caterpillars this year? Actually, it crossed my mind but, I wasn’t sweating it. I knew the butterflies would show up somewhere, I just didn’t think it would be my house this year. Boy was I taught different. God said, not yet. Just wait.

All the way back to the beginning we were told in Genesis 8:22 that; While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” How quickly we forget. Thank you Lord for your plan and promises.