I just learned the word superbloom. According to Dana Goodyear, writing for the New Yorker (in a GORGEOUS photo essay), a superbloom happens when there is so much rain that an unexpected and unusual abundance of flowers fills the landscape:
“The 2022-23 rains have reversed, temporarily, more than a decade of catastrophic drought. Some of the seeds that caused this bloom have lain dormant for years, waiting for conditions to improve. These flowers are like earthly versions of starlight: they are the past made visible. They are also a vision of the future, a prediction, a promise, of what will happen when it rains again, if we can wait.”
I told Peter about this and he said, “Well that’s a hundred sermon illustrations waiting to happen.”
And he’s right. So many of us labor and wait through years of drought. But what if the seeds of growth are there all along, waiting for the moment when the rain comes, and the ground becomes fertile with possibility?
For twenty years those seeds lay in the dry ground. Hidden from view. Seemingly dead and barren. And if those seeds had tried to grow, they would have withered completely.
Staying hidden in the ground was protection for those seeds until the right time. It’s an image of hope for our own lives. When we experience dry ground for longer than we thought was possible, there are still seeds of promise, waiting for rain. The rain will come again. And those dormant seeds will burst into glorious and abundant bloom.
More with Amy Julia:
- What Story Are You Telling Yourself?
- Falling Off the May Treadmill
- Awakened Attention and Achievement Attention
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