The Whispers of the Daffodils

Hello Bravehearted Beauties! I’ve missed you! Would you believe that even when I’m not here writing, I think of you? Truth be told, I’d like to be writing more. It’s part of my calling, my healing and my gifting. But when you step into those places with any kind of passion or purpose, you can expect opposition. I swung my sword at winter the best I knew how, but at some point, we’re all in need of a new season. Sunshine and daffodils to the rescue!

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Have you ever seen such a brave flower? These yellow beauties have burst forth out of barren ground, boldly proclaiming to all the earth that it’s time for a new season. I feel like I can almost hear all these little yellow trumpets singing…inviting a weary winter world back into full and abundant life.

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Daffodils spoke so powerfully to me last year that I knew I needed some of my own this season. I put a reminder on my calendar so that I wouldn’t miss the window for bulb planting, bought hundreds of bulbs, and waited for my in-laws to visit so they could help. It’s a good thing they like to work hard, because little did I know, our pasture isn’t meant for digging! A few inches down and you hit solid rock. We broke a few hand shovels along the way, and needless to say, we didn’t plant hundreds. I gave up around 50.

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But do you want to know something amazing?!?! In every place where we planted those bulbs, I now see bright yellow blooms standing tall and turning their faces toward the sun. That rocky, hard earth didn’t look promising. In fact, each hole we dug looked more like a tomb than life-giving soil. But those daffodils? They found a way. They always do. They’re not afraid of the dark for they know their glory will come. Not even winter storms and week-long sheets of ice could keep their glory hidden. {I’ve been told the ones on our historic road are over 100 years old. Can you imagine thriving in rocky places for over 100 years? Talk about fighting for life!}

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Behold the daffodil! Listen to the bold truth it declares through its golden trumpet: beauty will rise out of brokenness. Life will spring forth out of barren places. Light will shine out of the darkness. And when it does, it will take your breath away. No need to resent or hide your dark and broken places, for this is where true beauty is forged. Can you trust God to bring beauty out of your brokenness?

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As I marvel at how these flowers must be placed down low into lonely pockets of earth, live in the dark for most of the year, persevere through all the cold and dreary months, then push through barren places to finally rise and shine, I hear God whisper, you are my daffodil.

You, Bravehearted Beauties, are His daffodil.

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Can you see yourself in this brave little beauty? Maybe it’s not the flower you would’ve chosen. Believe me, I wouldn’t have picked it…just as I wouldn’t have called myself these crazy names. {Only God can call you Bravehearted Beauty and Freedom Fighter smack-dab in the midst of depression. Talk about hard and rocky places!} But God sees things in us we can’t see in ourselves. He sees who we really are even at our darkest, and it’s His delight to reveal what He sees. And sometimes, He just might use a daffodil! Without a word, creation pours forth speech. {Psalm 19}

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Bend down low and listen for the whispers.

I see your courage. I see your bravery. I see your resilience. I see your fight for life. I see all the beauty in you long before that first little shoot breaks through the ground. And yes, I see how you feel small, shriveled and lifeless when the earth is brown and the skies are gray. I see how you hide beneath the covers, behind a computer screen, or beneath a crushing sense that you aren’t enough. And I love you there. I love you every bit as much in the dark as I do in the light. I see how the darkness feels like it’s closing in…how the weight of winter feels too heavy for you to bear another day. But I see what you cannot see…the beauty just beneath all of this brokenness that will burst forth and proclaim my glory to all the earth! You are my glorious one. You are the one who will rise up and turn her face toward the sun.

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