“Evidence of Tulips Not Seen”
April 25, 2023
The last week of April is one of my favorite weeks of the year for at least two reasons – it is the week of my late, maternal Grandmom Margie’s birthday – and it is the week tulips are in full bloom in my yard. I am not sure Grandmom Margie ever planted a tulip garden, but she did plant this poem in my mind years ago,
“Tulips in the garden. Tulips in the park. No tulips are sweeter, than two lips in the dark.”
My tulips have never taught me a new poem, but they have taught me a much-needed lesson in faith. A few years ago, I planted 50 bulbs in my front yard and each spring since, every one of them bloomed. Last fall I planted another 50 bulbs, but in my back yard. As fall became winter, and winter became spring, I began to see signs of tulip growth in my front yard, but not so in my back yard. And I became obsessed with the lack of growth with those tulips. I started to think that I planted the bulbs too late, or even though I knew better, planted the bulbs upside down. Every day I would check on those tulips, but nothing was popping through the ground.
However, when I googled about these worries, I learned that I did not plant the bulbs too late, and that even if I had planted the bulbs upside down, the bulbs, by nature, know which way is up and they would turn themselves around and eventually bloom. How amazing is God’s creation! My worries were alleviated, and my tulip checking was reduced considerably. I replaced my tulip concerns with prayers to God, asking and trusting Him to bring my tulips to full bloom. And He did!
On April 25th, what would be my maternal grandmother’s 123rd birthday, my back yard tulips fully poked through the ground and Hebrews 11:1 popped into my mind.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
I had hoped for my tulips to bloom (substance of things hoped for), and I had been, not so patiently, waiting for them to break through the invisible underground into visibility above ground (evidence of things not seen). When they finally did, I realized that, just as my physical eyesight gives evidence of the material world surrounding me, faith is the “sense” that gives me evidence of the invisible world.
Hebrews 11:1 has a far deeper theological meaning than tulip bulbs, but my tulips reminded me that if we have the “substance” before us, and if we can see it, there is no use for faith. Faith is needed for what we cannot see and cannot touch. Faith is the evidence of things not seen! It is a willingness to trust in, to rely on, and to cling to.
The day I stopped obsessing about my tulips, and checking on them every day, twice a day, and asked God to bring them to full bloom, is the day I was willing to trust in, rely on, and cling to God for evidence of tulips not seen.