Today’s word is Grow. The reading is from Galatians 6:9. “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Wow. Read that verse again. “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

When Malee and I came up with the Lenten words and the readings for this project, we had no idea how our world was going to be changed in nearly an instant.

We are living in a very uncertain time right now. We’ve never ever experienced a world like this. And…it’s changing minute by minute.

When we sat down to come up with words – we were thinking of all the ways to help you find your quiet…help you find who you are…..and help you recognize those quiet spaces where you see and talk to God.

I had no idea how apropos these words would be to what God is calling us to do and to be during this time of unrest and unknown.

I went outside today to take a picture of some purple little crocus flowers that were growing outside my mom’s house. I thought hat would be the perfect picture on a drizzly day…..”Grow little flowers, grow!” Unfortunately, when I went out to take the picture, the steady drizzle that had been falling all day beat those flowers down to the ground.

I didn’t think that was super appropriate to depict today’s word, so I started looking around. I snapped a few photos.

And then it hit me… these flowers I was photograhing were in clumps…groups if you will.

As a teacher currently on spring break and with the closure of schools, I have been so nervous about what all of this would look like next week when we return to school to plan out our distance learning for our students.

Then it hit me. I am not alone. The power of the group will be what brings us to deliver successful lessons to our children. A facebook group of teachers belonging to “Teaching during COVID-19” has grown from 13,000 when I joined it on Monday, to a whopping 78,000+! This is where we are sharing ideas, collaborating resources, and having meaningful discussions on how best to serve our students.

It’s not about being a single teacher reaching out to service her students…it’s about the TEAM of educators of which I am a part, reaching out to MILLIONS of students and helping them reach their goals and their needs during this time.

I know our district has been working around the clock to set up the structure of what this looks like for our students as teachers will return next week to partake in more planning.

So, I leave you with some beautiful photos of GROUPS of flowers ready to bloom as they grow and push each other to grow. This is a magnificent lesson in faith and in God’s love. We got this.

Amen!