The Very Next Time

The Harvest is past, the summer has ended and the gathering of fruit is over, yet we are not saved! [comes again the voice of the people.] - Jeremiah 8:20 (The Amplified Bible)

For me, seeing how the leaves of summer goes through a process of green to fall colors of orange, brown, red, and golden yellow is absolutely amazing! As a retired commercial art teacher and professional painter, I can recall spending numerous hours mixing oil, acrylic, and pastel colors in an attempt to match the leaves that fall from trees. The Fall Season has always given me inspiration; yet, I’m not alone when it comes to being inspired by God’s masterful design in nature.

Mrs. Betsy Seymour, the wife of Rev. Dr. Jody Seymour, Senior Pastor of Davidson United Methodist Church, Davidson, North Carolina, has lifted the hearts of many by her love for flowers and how the art of presenting them [in floral displays] is an ongoing love affair. Wow! This lady is awesome! Anyway, Betsy shared some of her favorite snapshots with Lillie and me as we were in attendance at a recent wedding reception at the Charles Mack Center in Mooresville several months ago. A marriage ceremony was held earlier at Davidson UMC for one of the Associate Pastors and Betsy bedazzled everyone’s eyes with beautiful flowers both in the sanctuary as well as at the reception.

I asked, “What is your favorite flower? Just why did you choose it?” Daylily was her response. Betsy added, “My love for Daylilies began when I was a child and entered in a sandbox competition. The person who won the competition put some Daylilies in my display and I never forgot it. They were flowers from beside the road.” Pastor Jody added these remark, “Betsy went with me to visit my grandmother in Gulfport, MS. She met my grandmother’s doctor who hybridized Daylilies in an effort to produce a ‘white’ lily (which has yet to be done). Later, she started collecting Daylilies and the rest is history. In fact, she had a Daylily named after her called ‘Betsy Seymour.’ She now has over a thousand Daylilies that she has cross pollinated…they are waiting in her garden for their coming out…you never know what the bloom will look like until it blooms. It is all in the creation of the gardener who takes pollen from different lilies and cross pollinates them…then she waits until the new flower happens. Betsy loves it. She calls them ‘her little children.’”

In speaking about her love of flowers, Betsy mentioned something that dug deep in my spirit. “My goal,” as I interpreted her to say, “Is to plant [a] flower(s) so that its [their] roots will become strong the next year!” Wow! A phrase popped up in my spirit - The very next time. What could it mean? Tree leaves go through a transformation… hence time and circumstance changes things. Since there is always the contrast between the physical (world) and the spiritual, the Very Next Time could act as a wake up call. In retrospect, each time I see a tree in the process of losing its leaves, I think about what sin can do to an individual. Slowly, a person gradually begins to change and inevitably he or she dies. So the question maybe, what lesson can be taught to offset this condition?

“The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved!” - Jeremiah 8:20 (NIV). Theoretically, the prophet Jeremiah is weeping for sinful Judah in these words, which are a vivid portrayal of his emotions as he watched his people reject God. Jeremiah responded with anguish to a world dying in sin. What kinds of sins are implied here?

-Lying/ unrepentant hearts (8:5),

-Purposeful ignorance of God’s law (8:7),

-Foolishness of teachers (8:9), and

-Greed/hypocrisy/fraudulent prophets and priests (8:10).

As you go back and reread these things, observe that God is listing these sins as Jeremiah responds.

Far away from their homeland, witnessing the temple destroyed, and driven to hopelessness in the province of Babylon, Judah was punished for turning their backs on God who permitted their condition because of sin. Today, we watch that same world still dying in sin, still rejecting God. But how often is our heart broken for our lost friends and neighbors, our lost world? Only when we have Jeremiah’s passionate concern will we be moved to help. We begin by asking God-in-Christ to break our heart for the world he loves. Selah