Cutting my Hollyhocks

I have some purple mini-hollyhocks (I think that's what they are...) that grow next to my front porch. The first year they grew, I loved their purple blooms! In fact, as they grew older and older and decayed before my eyes, I refused to cut them, holding on to what I thought was my last chance to enjoy them for the year. Finally, they were such a huge eyesore, that I decided to finally cut them.

Lo and behold! I found a few weeks later (now well into fall) that they were growing again! I could have cut them back much earlier and actually had another set of beautiful blooms instead of watching the old ones wither, die, and then just look plain ugly for a while :).

So now, each year, as soon as they start withering, I cut them down at the base.

As I saw the regrowth happening now in my flower bed after cutting them back a few weeks ago, I was struck by an analogy. There have been times when I have felt "cut back", kind of like I had to start over again. It hurt, it was miserable, and it seemed like it was happening when I was doing my darn'd-est to keep on growing and doing my best.

It made me think about how there are seasons in our lives, seasons for growing, and seasons for starting over, or even just hibernating for a while :). Sometimes we cannot just keep growing, growing, growing, pushing ourselves to just "keep it up". When we do that, we can look just plain ugly like this hollyhock bush by my door.

It made me wonder, what seasons do I have? Do I keep pushing myself when I should be going back to basics?

And then, I thought, do I have faith when life seems to "cut me back"? When everything seems to drop out of the bottom, as it were? Do I see it as time to consider, time for regrowth, or do I whine and complain?

Then, --as so often seems to happen when I have something on my mind-- this morning I came across a scripture in 2 Corinthians 4 that seemed to teach me a little more about having faith in times of trial...
15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the ^athanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the ^ainward man is renewed day by day.

17 For our light ^aaffliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and ^beternal ^cweight of glory;

How cool is that! Now, I just need to learn from it and enjoy my seasons more, right?