Not the Right Time Yet by Sandy Kirby Quandt

Last May, as my husband and I drove north through Alabama to attend a writing conference, we looked for blossoming mimosa trees. We do this every time we drive on Interstate 85. We were disappointed and surprised to find fewer than usual trees with blooms.

On our return trip home the following week we spotted tree after beautiful tree full of blossoms. We tried to figure out what may have caused the lack blooms the week before. Not enough rain. Too much rain. Colder than normal winter. Warmer than normal winter. We're not horticulturists, so have no idea for the delayed blossoms. We settled for the fact it simply was not the right time for the trees to bloom yet.

Having spent the previous week with over three hundred writers, I couldn't help make the comparison between those mimosa trees and those of us who write.

We're all on different journeys. We don't achieve our goals, don't blossom, at the same time. Some of us bloom earlier. Some bloom later. Some of our dreams are achieved earlier. Some are achieved later. Some of us have a profusion of blossoms on our tree. Others don't have as many.

Even if our trees lack blossoms, that does not negate the beauty of our tree. No matter how successful or unsuccessful our lives may appear to others, or to ourselves, our lives continue to be beautiful when we offer them for our Creator God's purposes.

I've found when hopes or dreams are delayed, some people think they must know the exact reason for the delay. They theorize the reason for the delay is too much this. Not enough that. When honestly, in much the same way my husband and I theorized about the mimosa blooms, they don't have the slightest idea. And don't need one.

It's just not the right time yet.

The One who told the moon when to shine and the sun when to sleep, told the sea it could only come so far and no further, placed the stars in the heavens and the bars around Orion knows when our not the right time yet will turn into it's time now. The same way God told the blossoms on the mimosa trees that lines I-85 when it was time to bloom, he knows when it is time for our dreams to blossom.

As we wait for whatever dream we hold in our heart, perhaps we should remember the mimosas that bloom at God's appointed time and not one moment sooner.

Is there a dream you're waiting on to bloom?

Sandy Kirby Quandt is a freelance writer and follower of Jesus with a passion for history and travel. Passions that often weave their way into her stories and articles. She writes numerous articles, devotions, and stories for adult and children publications both print and online including Christian Devotions and Inspire a Fire. Her devotions appear in two Worthy Publishing compilation books; So God Made a Dog and Let the Earth Rejoice. Sandy won several awards for writing including the 85th and 86th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition in the Young Adult category, First Place in the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference Children’s Literature 2016 Foundation Awards, First Place in the 2017 Foundation Awards in the Young Adult, Middle Grade, and Flash Fiction categories. Looking for words of encouragement or gluten-free recipes? Then check out her blog, Woven and Spun.
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