Recently in prayer times I have been seeing belts of various sizes, shapes and types. Drive belts, leather dress belts, engine belts. Belts seem to have 2 primary purposes the hold things up, such as jeans and to transfer energy in the belts under the hood of your car.

Belts fray, stretch and sometimes simply wear out. There are things that can be done to extend their life through attention. Keeping them in tension is the primary key to this. The water pump in your car and the belt around your waist only work with a suitable amount of tension, too much and they snap or cause discomfort, too little and you might just lose your drawers.

In times of prayer and in dreams belts will often represent holding things to together and keeping them working. As always context is very important. But keep an eye out for things that need to be held together. Winter is the classic time for belts to fail. A hot summer can make the belt brittle and fragile and then just a bit of rigidness sets in with the cold and SNAP.

It is good to have things that are meant to be held together, held together.

My personal theory is that our lives to some degree follow a pattern set by the seasons. These seasons are spring, summer, fall and winter. Along with the four seasons you have 4 seasonal transitions spring to summer, summer to fall, fall to winter and winter to spring.

In life the seasons do not follow along with the rotation of the Earth’s axis, but rather are affected by the individual. Much the same way that while it may be winter in the Hebrides with snow, sleet and bitter cold in Southern Italy it is likely still relatively warm and sunny.

What can be very difficult is being in a winter season and feeling like it should be spring or summer. Winter is the resting season, and a time for everything to prepare for the vibrancy of spring.

The key to knowing your current season rests in seeing the patterns that go on around you. Recognizing that if you are in a winter season and it feels a little warmer you are likely moving into spring.

What season are you in?

Christianity is a faith that sort of began with gardening. In gardens and nature we see transformation occurring daily in things all around us. Seeds fall to ground and return as little spouts that eventually turn into trees, bushes, vegetables and of course weeds. But each of these seeds follows its kind. You wouldn’t plant an avocado pip and expect a maple tree. In the same way we can see seeds that are planted in our lives that will grow to reflect where it comes from. Some of these turn into fantastic successes and others have to be weeded and pulled out. Much like decorative bamboo some things that we want to remove can have very deep roots.

For our first exercise in gardening our lives we will look at seeds that are being planted into our life and find out how we are to respond.

Step 1 Ask the Lord to show you a seed that has been planted in your life.

Step 2 Ask the Lord to show how long this seed has been germinating.

Step 3 Ask the Lord to show you where this seed came from.

Step 4 Ask the Lord how you should treat this seed.

Step 5 Ask the Lord to show what fruit this seed will produce.

We only want good fruit in our lives. A dying tree can still produce good seed.