So much of what we do outside reaps little benefit now - it is for the future. 

Isn't that how so much of life should be?  We get caught up in the "do it for the moment" mentality, when we should focus on things of a more lasting value. 

So many great life lessons in nature.  Today the older boys are planting trees and learning that we must invest hard work now with the hope that it will pay off in the future. 

 

There are no guarantees in most of life.  Last year we planted trees and lost two in a late frost.  The year before that we planted trees and lost 2.  Life is hard.  Sometimes disappointing.  But we persevere. 

Someday this little orchard will bless our family with fruit.  At least that hope drives our actions now. 

How is it that we can toil away at something that we "hope" will be, when we have no assurance?  Well, there is value in the work - even if the trees die and don't produce fruit.  More importantly, our real hope is not in the things of this world - our assurance is in Jesus Christ, who died so that we might partake of the tree of life.  All things of this life will pass away . . . but the tree of life is for eternity.  We'll persevere in this world's uncertainty, knowing that in Christ we are guaranteed to eat of His harvest.

"To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God."  Revelations 2:7b

Living here on the prairie makes me often reflect on what it would have been like for the pioneers who lived here.  I really can't imagine having a winter like this without a heater or running water or an indoor potty.  Yet people lived for thousands of years like that.  The woman of Proverbs 31 "is not afraid of the snow for her household, for all her household are clothed with scarlet" (verse 21).  And that was a long time before heated homes.  This woman was prepared.  Not only was she prepared, but she had prepared for those around her as well - so much so that she was not afraid about what the weather might bring.

Sometimes life sends a blizzard of stress - an unforeseen crisis - or maybe a long winter of trials and tribulations.  We wonder if we will ever see the bright shiny days of spring again.  What can we do before the storms of life arrive so that we are not afraid of what might come?  What can we do if we are in the middle of a storm now and it caught us unprepared?