Then something interesting started to take place which was this thread of pain that weaved its way through the sunshine and through the glorious highlights. This led me to often question where is the bloom? Where is the joy where is the good in it all? Sometimes feeling ungrateful I would find my thoughts wondering where is the BLOOMING in my life and although that might be hard to comprehend to most it was constantly looming as I went through other personal battles, and challenges. 

Then all of a sudden in fact only recently I had the revelation that perhaps the blooming was happening all along as Morgan Harper Nichols often says. Sometimes we don’t see or understand the process of our pain contributing to our next version of ourselves.  I recently discovered some flowers have a feature where the leaves contract before they grow out and open again. Any good florist or gardener will also tell you right after a big harvest they bring out the scissors because it’s time to PRUNE. What you often mistake pruning for lack of growth or lack of bloom but perhaps the pruning you are feeling is exactly because of your growth seasons. 

You are closer to your next harvest more than you think. Don’t complain about the lack but embrace this new season, and what it’s teaching you because the next phase MUST come. BLOOM

“For before the harvest, as soon as the bud blossoms

And the flower becomes a ripening grape,

Then He will cut off the sprigs with pruning knives

And remove and cut away the spreading branches. “ - Isaiah 18:5 

“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.” - John 15:3

 I often go through periods at times where I feel really stretched, I've often uttered the phrase "I feel like I'm dying" a couple of times. I know… slightly dramatic, but during these phases I feel as if I have reached my absolute capacity. My responsibilities have suddenly increased in demand which leads to extreme fatigue and exhaustion kicking in, making things to become increasingly difficult. 

Tasks start to become hard to manage, self doubt starts to creep in and you are now second guessing your ability to perform. Perhaps due to the new found level of exhaustion you have let a few things slip off your To do list. You are trying to manage expectations all at the same time maintaining your relationships with the important people in your life and somehow still not keeping on top of it.

Sound Familiar??

I used to be convinced that I was the only person who often felt like this, until I started to open up about these recent struggles and found out that I was not alone. I'm guessing if you are still reading this, you too can relate to this painful experience and may be walking in one of these seasons currently. Let me be the first to tell you, I understand your struggle, in fact it's not entirely my favourite time when I have to endure times like this but I would definitely do it again and I will tell you why. 

During every difficult season it's an opportunity to grow, it's an opportunity for it to produce something new. Every painful season in my life has produced something in me that I never knew was actually there, it brought out a skill that was maybe dormant, a tenacity that I thought had died down or a fight in me that came totally alive. 

 

Keep trusting the process you may have a few diamonds or two come your way. 

Kuro

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