About a fortnight ago a friend emailed that a mutual friend had tried to contact me via my blog. I immediately went to my dashboard and was not able to find a message of any description. What I did find, however, was a plethora of comments (mostly legit) that had not been approved - for the very simple reason that I was totally ignorant of their existence.
Some of these comments go back six years or more. And one, I'm sad to say, was a request for a pattern that I had apparently offered on a blog post. I'm sure that reader has not only ceased to follow my blog but has categorised me as untrustworthy and a breaker of promises.
However, it was all unintentional. [If I still had a copy of that pattern I would post it forthwith although I'm sure the reader in question has long since forgotten or found a substitute pattern in the meantime.] But that doesn't stop me from feeling ashamed and a trifle embarrassed that I appear to have broken my word.
I could blame Blogger who over the years has changed its settings. But in all fairness, I probably received an email or notification of some sort that there were to be changes to their terms and conditions (or whatever the language is that they use) and it would have been up to me to adjust my settings so that I continued to receive notifications of things such as comments and messages. Perhaps I'm the only one who never reads those emails ... but I doubt it.
But that still doesn't excuse the fact that I feel badly for letting someone down. Not just someone - but somebodies. Hopefully all will accept my apology now. And I promise to do better at checking for comments although I can't guarantee it will be super regularly. But I'll do my best.
All this to say that while I may have broken my word, I am so very grateful that there is One whose word endures forever and Who will never break His promises. I know this because He has proved Himself faithful again and again.
Many look to the rainbow as a sign of His faithfulness - and rightly so - but I'm also reminded of this every time I go out in the garden, and never more so than at this time of year. Everything bursting into bud is a sign of hope. But it's more than that. As I watch the seasons across the landscape of my garden I am reminded that "while the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22, KJV). God has set the pattern for the seasons and while ever the world remains, winter will give way to spring and new life, spring to summer, summer to fall, fall to winter, and so the cycle continues despite the climate-changers who spout their theories and predict a drastically changed world.
I just have to look around my garden and I remember "seedtime and harvest ... shall not cease". Every bud blooming, every new leaf uncurling, every seed that has sprouted, reminds me of His faithfulness.
A week or so ago I was out in my garden and was almost in tears at the sheer beauty of an iris that had flowered for the first time (the last photo). I had almost given up on seeing it in bloom, and to be unexpectedly greeted by its intricate structure and colour was quite a joy.
I will be the first to admit that I'm no gardener. If it grows, it stays and, generally, self-seeds and pops up everywhere, and then I spend the next ten years trying to get rid of it. If it struggles, it gets ripped out and replaced with something more dependable. The irises, I thought, were in the latter category, although I wasn't quite ready to rip them out. Where there is life there is hope, or so they say, and there were still enough signs of life for me to not be ruthless and remove them.
How glad I am that I didn't.
However, over this past week there have been enough other plants removed from our garden (including a nectarine tree that had a love affair with leaf curl and just would not give it up) but there have also been enough other signs to prove that the seasons are changing and will continue to do so for as long as the earth remains.
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