"Your plans may not have come together in the way you wanted them to, but that does not mean you have to give up. That does not mean you are not worthy enough of pursuing new things in the season you are currently in."

Some of the most beautiful things grow in seemingly unlikely places. Plants do not only grow in the fresh soil of rolling green fields that receive the right amount of sunshine and rain. They also grow underwater, in the dark, in the winter, in the desert. They grow in the places most would never think to look.

Don’t let the season you’re in make you think nothing can grow here. You don’t have to be a certain age or live in another city in order to see new life rise up from the ground. You don’t have to know exactly what you are being called to do in order to take courageous, intentional steps toward growing in this season.

Remember this also when it comes to things you have started but haven’t been able to finish. Maybe you feel embarrassed or ashamed for having to take such a long break. Maybe you fear starting up again because it might not be the same.

And it’s true, it won’t be the same when you start again, because you are not the same. You have learned and grown so much since the time you originally began. Now is the time not to pick apart the flaws of the original dream, but to look at the heart of the things you started and work from there. It’s time to take a closer look at the things that are still probing at your curiosity all these years later. Go back to the plants you put in the ground long ago. Go back and identify the withering branches that need to be cut off and the branches that are surprisingly still hanging on. Did you know that pruning your plants can actually help them thrive?

Reevaluating this season of your life doesn’t automatically mean throwing everything away, even if you just want a clean slate. There are still lessons that you have gathered along the way that will prepare you for whatever plants you decide to plant or nurture today.

As you make new plans, it does not automatically mean you have to do away with all of the old ones. Those earlier dreams are still a part of your story, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of it didn’t quite work out. You can still be proud of yourself for choosing to start something. You can still have grace for yourself for the season when you took a break. You can still celebrate how far you have come even if it included treading through a valley of failures and disappointments.

You are in a new season now, and no matter what it looks like, beautiful things can still come to life here. You are worthy of new beginnings, right here where you are.

More tomorrow…

Sincerely,
Morgan Harper Nichols