My Tulip Garden

LOVE THOSE TULIPS! Costco sold a package of fifty tulip bulbs three years ago, to my delight. I planted them in the autumn on the side of my front yard, really the only place available. Together with my little gardening shovel and trowel, I carried my precious box of bulbs to the spot, got down on my hands and knees, and began digging. Instead of soft, moist earth, I found the soil extremely dry and rocky. A hose connected to the outdoor spigot solved the too-dry problem, but no ideas came into my head to get rid of that rocky soil.

Not being one to wait to buy bark chips, I determinedly began to dig holes in and around the rocks, just barely deep enough to insert each bulb. I hoped for tulips to come up in spring, but also doubted, and for good reason. The rocks kept me from digging deep holes, and the gravel provided little nourishment for any root system to develop. However, I planted them with a prayer and covered them over with the same gravelly surface. Autumn blew into winter, and a blanket of snow hid my garden and shielded it from low freezing temperatures. Finally, spring melted the snow, watered the ground, and warmed the earth.

To my amazement, little green shoots appeared throughout the garden space. I watched every day as those shoots grew higher and higher until buds formed, and pink and purple tulips burst into the sunlight. A miracle, in so many ways, emerged right before my eyes! How did those dry, dead-looking bulbs come to life? How did those tiny roots find nourishment among rocks? How could something so beautiful come out of such rocky soil?

Sometimes our circumstances leave us little wiggle room, and we feel stuck between rocks and hard places. Our winter season of life feels unproductive, mundane, and worthless. However, the lesson of the tulips planted in rocky soil gave me a whole new picture of the power of Christ. Deep within each dried-up bulb lay a tiny speck of life, unseen, unheard, unfelt, and unsung. Yet, in the fullness of time, the sun came out, the snow melted, the earth warmed, that speck of life burst out of its grave, and reached for the sun. Not only that, but it sent down roots in and around the rocks to draw up moisture into its stem and leaves and flower.

Christ’s power begins with a tiny flicker of life within our hearts. It waits for the fullness of time to burst into the light and sends small roots into God’s Word where it draws up nourishment. The roots find their way through all kinds of trials and tribulations by the power of the Holy Spirit. Nothing can stop that life from reaching past the old rotten shell into the Son Light, where it becomes fruitful and reflects the beauty of its Creator.

Another amazing thing happened, which I never expected! The following spring, not only did my tulips reappear, but twice the number of tulips came up than I planted the first year! The third spring, each tulip doubled again. What a beautiful picture of Christ’s fruitfulness in our lives! When we yield to His Word, His Spirit, and His way, He increases our fruitfulness to bless others and reveal more and more of Himself.

This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples (John 15:8).