Surviving Before Thriving

A friend and I were emailing a bit about our lives.  She is busy with many things right now and told me she is in “survival mode”.  I responded to her that I, too, am “surviving” and that we should pray for each other.  Her response was unique and good:

“Survival is good,

and usually when that mode ends,

the thriving starts.”

I have been in survival mode for a while now.  Sometimes it seems endless, hopeless, challenging, and bothersome, but I know that (in the end) it will produce good fruit if I stay strong in the Lord.  A gardener has to work hard to yield a good harvest.  He doesn’t just sit in his lawn chair with a tall, cold glass of lemonade and stare at the fields all day! 

A mother robin made her nest in the crook of this downspout.  There are two babies inside.  Right now, the chicks are in survival mode.  They are completely and utterly dependent on the mother.  She searches for food, and while she is out, there are the chicks – waiting with their mouths open for when she will return.  They need her.  They can not function on their own.

We, too, should be like these chicks during survival mode.  We should have our mouths continually open, not our physical mouths, but our spiritual “mouths”.  We should be depending upon our Lord and keeping our eyes fixed on Him.  We should be anxiously waiting for His feeding, His drawing, and most of all, His return!  We can not run this race alone, and it is foolish to think we can.

Once the chicks are done with their survival mode, they will hopefully thrive.  They will grow up, learn to fly, mature, and in turn raise up the next generation of robins.

May our survival mode produce great seasons of thriving!

God is with us in whatever season we are in – whether it be of survival or of thriving.  He wants us to lean upon Him during the hard times and to realize how much we desperately need Him.  In the good times, he wants us to praise Him and see His utter goodness.  HIS strength can provide all we need in every situation.

Philippians 4:11-13

…for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: ¹² I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. ¹³ I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.