Dried Puffballs AGAIN!

All week long our ash tree has been dropping its spent flowers all over our house (picture roof, gutters, windowsills, bay windows). These dried puffballs cover not just our house, but our front walkway, garden beds and driveway, and everything else that sits under the branches of this majestic tree. Whenever or wherever they land, they release the last bit of pollen that remains in them, with a yellow “poof”. When the wind blows, they descend on our neighbor’s yards and the street en masse. It’s nearly impossible to walk anywhere around here without stepping on them, which makes them break into hundreds of bits and pieces…PER PUFFBALL! And there are hundreds of them…dare I say thousands?

And They. Are. Messy.

I’m constantly sweeping. Every day Keith brings out our blower, climbs up on the roof, and blows the latest “crop” down onto the walkways below. There, he blows them all into a pile to be raked up and thrown into our Garden Waste bins. A tedious task, but seeing the pristine surfaces, the clean and tidy yard, is the reward of a job well done.

Done? Maybe for today, but it doesn’t last long.

Within just a few minutes of throwing the last pile of puffs into the Garden Waste receptacle, more puffballs begin dropping, the seemingly incessant cycle beginning all…over…again. (The pictures above were taken less than 24 hours after Keith had finished blowing for the day.)

Oh – did I mention these puffballs are messy?

One would easily grow weary of this non-stop work, without this one thing: hope. Knowing that this season won’t last. Soon (oh please, Lord, very soon?) the last puffball will have fallen and the overhead canopy of this Modesto Ash will be filled with bright green leaves, bringing welcome shade and protection from the scorching Southern California sun.

There are many things these days that have seemed like incessantly falling puffballs…things of which I can easily grow weary: side effects of my new medication; MS symptoms; negativity in the news and social media; friends stuck in the drama in their lives refusing to look for the Lord’s way out, for what He’s doing; being sucked into a negative mindset and forgetting to focus on what God is doing to heal my heart, refresh my soul and restore His joy. Puffball after puffball after puffball.

But God…

…IS working. (Romans 8:28-29) “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.   For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son…”

…IS strengthening and growing my faith. (James 1:2 – 4) “Consider it all joy, my brethren (Debra), when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result that you may be perfect (mature) and complete, lacking in nothing.”

…IS still with me. (Matthew 28:20b) “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

…IS good.  (Romans 8:31 –32) “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?”

…IS trustworthy & faithful.   (Lamentations 3:22-23) “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”

…IS my perfect example (Hebrews 12:3) “Consider Him (Jesus) who endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

…HAS led me to this time and place…and He will bring me through it. This season is just that: a passing season. Even if this should be a new normal I still have this hope: the assurance that, when my life on this earth ends, I will be in heaven with my Lord Jesus. (Revelation 21:4) “(There) He will wipe every tear from (our) eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Oh yes, this, too, shall pass. But for now I better get out the broom and sweep a clear path through those puffballs. Did I happen to mention they’re a bit messy?