What Do You See?

almond tree buds and flowers

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 

“Jeremiah, what do you see?” 

And I said, “I see an almond branch.” 

Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, 

for I am watching over my word to perform it.”

- Jeremiah 1:11-12

Some of the most meaningful experiences I have had studying the Bible were the times I have spent looking closely at the questions God asks.

For example, after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, God asks them, "Where are you?"

And after Cain murdered his brother Abel, God asks him, "Where is your brother?" and "What have you done?"

To Ezekiel, in a difficult moment of doubt, God asks, "Can these bones live?"

Unlike us, when God asks a question, obviously it is not to get information, for God knows everything. God's questions are opportunities for us to ponder... to evaluate where we are in relation to Him, or to admit a wrongdoing and come to Him for repentance.

God's questions are meant to draw us back to Him.

February comes to an end today, and I want to take time to share what this month has been like for me.

After I returned from Manila, I was kept busy picking up from where I left off. Many of the Christmas gifts I received were still on the dining table, and some of the empty cardboard boxes were still stacked in the living room. I felt a tinge of sadness to realize that because I had to leave right after Christmas, my home looked like Christmas in "suspended animation." It was a graphic reminder to me that time moves on, and time moves fast.

The garden, as usual needed much attention.

I wanted to spend time with the grands.

And so on, and so forth...

It was easy to be carried away by what seemed urgent at the moment, but I had to tell myself to put my priorities in order and focus on what is truly important in God's eyes.

When 2019 began, I promised myself this year to make every effort to draw closer to God and spend more time rediscovering Jesus and getting to love Him more.

In my retirement years, I have realized that I don't do too well with formulas and regimen... but this time, a systematic dose of Bible reading was what I wanted.

When Joshua was commissioned by God to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land, He was commanded to read the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament) daily, and to meditate on it, to ensure success and prosperity.

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. - Joshua 1:8

Definitely, God's words to Joshua are to be taken to heart.

I also made it my goal this year to grow in wisdom by reading a chapter a day from the book of Proverbs.

But more than any other book in the Bible, I believe that the Gospels which contain the stories about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, deserve the highest place. I once heard a preacher say that it would do us a lot of good to read the Gospels of Jesus Christ over and over again.

Jesus himself said in John 6:63,

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

Earlier this month, I was struck by the question God asked in Jeremiah 1:11-12,

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 

“Jeremiah, what do you see?” 

And I said, “I see an almond branch.” 

Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, 

for I am watching over my word to perform it.”

In the Hebrew calendar, we are now in the year 5779, the last year in the decade of the 70s.

In my previous posts, I have written much about the significance of this decade. The number 70 is called ayin in the Hebrew alphabet, and its pictorial symbol is that of two eyes.

The two eyes of ayin speak of two perspectives - good or evil. We choose what we see. We can see good behind what is apparently evil. I look at it this way: our natural eyes see the physical reality, but our spiritual eyes can be trained to see how heaven sees it.

I have written about the circumstances of 2018... the uncertainties surrounding the legal battle I am facing, grief over the deaths of my beloved granddaughter Marla, and my best friend Melanie, the clutter in my home that somehow represents the emotional clutter I have to wade through and sort out...

In the midst of all this, God surprises me with His question: What do you see?

One can wallow in the anxiety and the pain...  focus on the boiling pot that Jeremiah saw in Jeremiah 1:13, which speaks of the negatives—the difficulties, the pressures, the doubts, that confront us daily.

We can get used to seeing life that way, as a glass half-empty, look at the picture and point to all the wrong things in it.

Or... we can see the first thing that Jeremiah saw: an almond tree bough.


In December, I sensed that the season was changing for me.

As I meditated on The Passion Translation of Song of Songs 2:11-13, it seemed like Abba Father was calling me out from the road of grief and worry to the next level, the higher path leading to my destiny.

The season has changed,

the bondage of your barren winter has ended,

and the season of hiding is over and gone.

The rains have soaked the earth

and left it bright with blossoming flowers.

The season for singing and pruning the vines has arrived.

I hear the cooing of doves in our land,

filling the air with songs to awaken you

and guide you forth.

Can you not discern this new day of destiny

breaking forth around you?

The early signs of my purposes and plans

are bursting forth.

The budding vines of new life

are now blooming everywhere.

The fragrance of their flowers whispers,

“There is change in the air.”

Arise, my love, my beautiful companion,

and run with me to the higher place.

For now is the time to arise and come away with me.

I was not ready to move into my new season. We can get lethargic and too comfortable in our tents and feel reluctant to move even when we see the Cloud beginning to move.

Honestly, there are days when I still feel that way.

I know the choice is mine. But it almost seemed like God was pushing me out of my comfort zone... out of my tent of complacency, of running away from Him, of focusing on the urgent, instead of the more important... in fact, the one thing that really matters, and that is my relationship with Him.

Pull up the tent pegs, fold the canvas, and run with Me to the higher place!

What do you see?

Can you not discern this new day of destiny breaking forth around you?

I know God is calling me to arise, and I sense that March is going to be a defining month for me.

So I make the choice to activate my spiritual senses, and force myself to look at my physical reality from the perspective of heaven.

Jeremiah saw an almond branch.

How beautiful the symbolism of the almond tree is!

In Israel, the almond tree is the earliest tree to show signs of life in winter. Its flowers appear in late January or early February and is a harbinger of spring. That Jeremiah saw the almond branch meant God wanted him to know winter was about to end and spring was coming.

It represents resurrection, a coming back to life after the long and dreary winter months. 

The bondage of your barren winter has ended. 

This is God's specific message to me. For in truth, it has been like a long winter for me... 

I know all about strategic delays... just as when Jesus purposely delayed going to Bethany until Lazarus was four days in the grave.

I know that my Abba Father is up to something.

For the vision is yet for an appointed time;

But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.

Though it tarries, wait for it;

Because it will surely come,

It will not tarry.

- Habakkuk 2:3

But... it has been like a long winter for me... and I am eager to enter my season of the suddenly, just like the almond buds that suddenly appear, almost overnight.

The almond tree represents breakthrough - as the buds appear, and blossom in the winter, while all the other trees are still bare.

And what God replies to Jeremiah fills my heart with hope: 

“You have seen well, 

for I am watching over my word to perform it.”

I am holding on to God's word spoken to me in the past:

He is my Defender.

His covenant of peace will never depart from me.

I will not be put to shame, and I will not remember the reproach of my widowhood.

The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places, yes I have a good inheritance.

And just as God spoke to Jeremiah, I believe He is speaking to me as well. He is watching over His word to perform it.

Charles Spurgeon says, "God is quick in performing His promises. They are like the almond tree—they blossom and bear fruit very quickly."

Thus I am holding on to to God's word for me this month.

I wrote these lines in my September 2018 blog post, and I quote:

God is activating a divine perspective in His people in this decade. The eyes of our hearts are being opened like never before, and we are receiving understanding to know the times and the seasons of God not only in our personal circumstances, but in the rest of the world as well.

And as February ends today, I name this month, "What Do You See?"

I feel strongly in my heart that Jesus is my almond tree.

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Jesus is what I see.


One of my all time favorite songs was written by Graham Kendrick, and it goes this way:

To keep Your lovely face
Ever before my eyes
This is my prayer
Make it my strong desire
That in my secret heart
No other love competes
No rival throne survives
And I serve only You