Walking The Lenten Garden
The Budding Twig
Second Sunday Lent
These reflections grow out of simple moments in the garden during the season of Lent. In the quiet rhythms of creation, we are reminded to slow down, to notice what is before us, and to listen for the gentle presence of God.
At first glance, it still looks bare.
Just a branch—
thin, ordinary,
nothing I would have noticed if I hadn’t stopped.
But when I looked more closely,
I saw it.
Small buds, tightly held.
Life gathering itself, not ready yet,
but unmistakably there.
Nothing is open.
Nothing is in bloom.
And yet, everything has already begun.
I find that comforting.
Early spring is like that.
The garden doesn’t rush or explain itself.
It doesn’t prove anything.
It simply prepares.
The buds stay closed, waiting for their moment,
trusting the timing they were made for.
Standing beside the branch,
I felt how familiar that waiting is for me.
There are seasons when nothing looks different on the outside,
even though something new is quietly forming within.
Lent often lives there—between what has been and what will be.
Not empty.
Not finished.
Just becoming.
The budding branch doesn’t hurry itself along.
It holds its promise without asking for attention.
This week, I’m watching for the small signs of newness—
the beginnings that don’t announce themselves,
the changes that ask for patience more than certainty.
And somehow, that makes it easier for me to trust
that the Gardener is still tending what I can’t yet see.
Sometimes it’s enough just to notice that something new is already underway.
Continue Walking the Lenten Garden
The Lenten Rose – First Sunday Lent
Mourning Doves – Third Sunday Lent