by Sandy Kirby Quandt @SandyKQuandt

While driving north through Alabama on Interstate 85 last year to attend the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference, my husband and I looked for blossoming mimosa trees. We do this every time we drive to the conference. Most years, the trees are covered with blooms. Last year, we were disappointed and surprised to find fewer than usual trees blooming.

We tried to figure out what may have caused the lack of blooms. Not enough rain. Too much rain. Colder than normal winter. Warmer than normal winter. We’re not horticulturists so truly have no idea why the blossoms were delayed. My husband and I settled for the fact it simply was not the right time for them to bloom. 

On our return trip home the following week we spotted tree after beautiful tree full of blossoms.

Having spent the week with over three hundred writers at the BRMCWC, 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 dreams, don’t blossom, at the same rate. Some of us achieve our dreams earlier. Some of us achieve our dreams later. Some of us have a profusion of blossoms on our tree. Others not as many. 

An important thing to remember is regardless of the number of blossoms, there is beauty in each tree. No matter how successful or unsuccessful our lives may appear to others, or 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, there are some who 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 for the delay. And don’t need one. It’s just not God’s 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 time yet will turn into it’s time now.

The same God who tells mimosa trees when it is time to bloom knows when it is time for our writing dreams to blossom. As we wait for whatever dream we hold in our heart, let’s consider the mimosas that bloom at God’s appointed time, and not one moment sooner. 

What dreams are you waiting on to bloom?

Sandy Kirby Quandt is a former elementary school educator and full-time writer with a passion for God, history, and travel; passions that often weave their way into her stories and articles. She has written numerous articles, devotions, and stories for adult and children publications. Her devotions appear in two Worthy Publishing compilation books; So God Made a Dog, and Let the Earth Rejoice. She has 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 Sandy’s blog, Woven and Spun.