Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s First Reading: Isaiah 29:17-24
Reflect on the Word//
I felt a bit like David as my tears soaked my pillow and I charged, “How long, O Lord?” (Psalm 13:1) For an hour, I had poured out my heart before Jesus, asking Him for some direction and consolation. After I had settled, it came like a rushing wind.
But a very little while . . . He said to me. In my holy imagination, I suddenly saw myself in the midst of an orchard. The trees were bursting with varieties of fruit and the leaves rustled softly in the wind. I walked through the orchard, trying to estimate its size. But “the orchard [was] regarded as a forest” (Isaiah 29:17), and I could not see the end of it.
It was very clear to me that this orchard was on the other side of the current “lowly” state of “gloom and darkness” (Isaiah 29:19, 18) that stole my sight. It would be—quite literally—the fruit of longstanding trust in Him.
The purpose of this beautiful image was also obvious to me: an expansive, fruitful orchard would only result from God’s goodness and work. “When his children see the work of my hands in his midst”(Isaiah 29:23), reminds me that He is the Gardener. I will not be able to boast of the orchard as my own doing; on the contrary, I will walk about it in awe because the Lord has done it. He is the One Who tills and plants and waters and weeds and fertilizes His work in my soul . . . if I allow Him.
Many years later, I am still awaiting the fulfillment of His promise—my arrival to the orchard. But I don’t doubt it is coming in a very little while. In the meantime, I get to trust in Him without yet seeing the fruit—and this is purifying my love.
Sister, we are all waiting on the Lord. Whether you are in the land of promises fulfilled or struggling to trust in the land of gloom and darkness, He is present to you in either place. Both the waiting and the profits of promise offer us intimacy with Him and an opportunity to praise Him.
Relate to the Lord // Imagine your orchard with the Lord. Ask Him to make your life fruitful.
Olivia Spears lives in Kentucky, where sweet tea and bourbon flow like milk and honey. She holds degrees in Theology and Catechetics from the Franciscan University of Steubenville and works from home while enjoying her children and husband. She curates relevant and inspiring content for Catholic women as Blog Manager. She is the narrator of Set a Fire, And Hay Became Holy, and All She Had as well as a contributing author for Rise Up. Find out more about her here.
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