Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Ariane Williams

To resume after an interruption is to “renew.” The question is, “What is the interruption?” How do we view the experience in our interruptions?

The truth is that we experience so many interruptions in our life. The truth is that some of those interruptions have the heart standing at a crossroad with decisions on the mind. Some of those interruptions do not come to destroy you, rather renew you into a place of new restoration, new fire, new passion, and new growth. The restoration will take you to a place in love where you learn to fall in love with a renewed you.

A couple of weeks ago, I was discouraged because my ferns were scorched by the sun. The leaves were brittle and brown; I saw no life. I thought that they were going to bloom like they did last year, but they did not. I made the decision to throw them away, but something within me did not allow me to throw them away. I felt as if there was no point of return for the ferns. Have you ever felt like there was no return for you? Have you ever felt like you were scorched by the challenges of life? It was then that I realized that I am not the same person that I was last year, because I needed to be renewed in me. You cannot nurture something new with the same dirt. I forgot to take care of the ferns like I forgot to take care of myself. I forgot that the ferns needed an abundance of water and shade. God is hiding you in the shade for a new flow of water that is needed to restore you.

It was in a dream that I saw myself traveling in the woods with no destination in mind. As I walked through the woods, the plants around me began to grow. What was interesting about the dream was the fact that I could not go backwards. No matter how much I tried to go backwards, something kept me moving forward. No matter how fast I was going, the plants still grew. No matter how slow I was going, the plants still grew as my walk became an orchestra of God’s plan for my life. It is important for you to keep moving during this season of your life; your steps will become an orchestra where you will see God bringing things together for you to restore and renew you. 

A fern represents new life and new beginnings. The reason why you cannot move backwards is because you are walking in a new life and a new beginning. In this new beginning, I began to restore my ferns.  In your new beginning, you will have to identify a new process. My process consisted of me placing some banana peels in the soil of my ferns, because ferns like potassium, and the potassium was going to restore what was lost in the soil. Find your potassium (love) in this season to restore what has been lost in your soil. When I know that it is going to rain, I move the ferns so that they can connect to the rain for renewal. My ferns are “nurtured” and beautiful. Full restoration continues. The brown leaves that were once scorched by the sun have now been restored. The scorched areas in your life are being restored in the renewal process of you.

I sat on the porch one day. I was admiring the process of the growth. I smiled.  I smiled because I knew that if I would have given up on the ferns, then they would have been thrown away and never been given the chance to grow. Do not throw away your chance to grow in this season. It is important to see parts of your  life that need restoration; I was able to see mine.  I needed to fall in love with myself. You need to fall in love with you. Walk in your new you for you.

ARIANE WILLIAMS is a teacher, minister, published author and liturgical dancer. Email her at arianewilliams810@yahoo.com.