Abiding

Abiding. 
Isn’t it funny that nature doesn’t ask questions. It doesn’t worry or concern itself with what if’s. It simply lives in obedience. The tree didn’t ask how long its blooms would last in December, or if anyone would even have an opportunity to see its beauty. It simply obeyed and began the process that it is designed to do. There is no expectation or ultimatums, just raw, abiding obedience in its Creator. 
God didn’t tell us to do what is simple, makes the most sense, or even what benefits us. In fact, He reminds us that His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are greater than ours. He says that we may sow things that we will never harvest. He commands us to love those that may never love us in return. He tells us to go to places that we WILL be persecuted. He promises that we will live homesick everyday in hopes of our eternal home. He says people will hate us. 
Who are we, the pot, to argue with the potter? Our lives were meant for so much more than this, and, without an eternal focus, we can get caught up in seeking human approval or self approval over the approval of the one that truly matters…God. He reminded several in the Bible that to cling to your life on earth is to lose it in heaven and when we seek reward on earth, that reward will be the extent of our spoil. What is here is temporary and the more we cling to what we fleshly desire and what others believe we should be, the further we stray from abiding in the Lord. So even if you don’t see the results that you desire, obey as the tree, bloom anyway! It is eternally worth it.
So many verses I could add to this… but I love this one in particular, Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”