Anyone else need some Spring?

Good morning!

It's a dreary day here in Johnson City.  A stark contrast to the bright sunny skies I enjoyed this last weekend. The older I get the more I notice my moods/outlook can be affected by the weather.  I don't like this!  Except on sunny, warm or snowy days.

I greet you from a corner booth at our local Panera Bread restaurant.  I like to come here periodically to sit, think, read, pray and write.  Of course, I can do this at home, but there's something about getting up and out that inspires me when I'm feeling humdrum. Dark, dreary, rainy days can definitely cause humdrumness (new word, you like?)   I realize recently that more than any other winter since my kids were little, I have basically hibernated these last few months.  Lots of time inside.  Lots of time alone.  It's not all bad, mind you, but it can lead to an unhealthy isolation.  I'm not willing to go there.  I like people too much.  So here I am with people (kind of).

 Since I last wrote, our clocks have sprung forward bringing longer days and I have changed the house decor from winter to spring. It's the most noticeable change all year when it comes to seasons because I have about 5 large rubbermaid totes full of winter decor and only 1 for spring/summer.  It is quite obvious what my favorite season is.

That said, while it is a fact that Christmas/Winter is my favorite time of year, I truly do enjoy all the seasons.  The best part:  the changing from one that usually has outstayed it's welcome to the next which seems to be dragging it's feet to appear.  I think most everyone agrees that winter seems to be the longest season and spring can't come soon enough.  Except when we're sweating to death in high humidity into September hoping for a cool breeze and a jacket!

But come March I'm ready to turn my pasty white face up toward the warm sunshine, peel off a few layers of clothing and see bright colors spring up from the brown earth. 

I've been thinking about this change and my life lately.  You see, winter is a time for the earth and even some living creatures to rest, to hibernate.  The freezing cold temps have their purpose.  Trees and plants lose their color and shut down so to speak for a few months.  From spring to late fall they've been busy bearing fruit, bursting with color, energy and life, delighting those of us to take the time to notice.

But in the winter they take a break and lie dormant. One might even call it a form of death.  We know, of course, that it's not a permanent death, for they will bloom again.  Still, during this bleak time, there is still life.  I believe something's going on just below the surface where we can't see. A preparation for what's to come.

After this break, at just the right time, green shows through the brown ground.  Tiny buds will appear on trees and bushes.  Soon they will bloom to full color.  They will dazzle us again with their beauty, their time to shine, their purpose.  And we will be glad again.

Not so different in life, I think.  Solomon puts it wisely in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace."

It's been a long, cold winter.  For me, it has been a time for some 'deaths', a time of uprooting, a time to heal, a time to mourn, a time to refrain, a time to search, a time to mend, and a time to be silent (as silent as I can be).  I haven't felt very fruitful at times.

But I know that God is at work. Ourside and in me.  I know that even though I can't see what He's doing, He is doing something.  I pray it will result in more glory for Him.

I think of some favorite verses like Jeremiah 17:7,8  "But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him.  He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.  It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.  It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." 

And Psalm 1:1-3  "Blessed is the man....whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.  He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.  Whatever he does prospers."  

Another thing about the coming of this new season, spring is the celebration of Easter.  Jesus came here to Earth to suffer and die, take on our sins as His very own, to purchase salvation and eternal life for each one who will believe.  Three days after His horrible death, He came out of the grave alive!  Resurrected.  I believe those three days must have been the darkest, coldest, bleakest, days in all of history.  A winter of sorts.  Life left the building.  But even when there seemed to be no hope, God was working in our darkness.  I imagine that Sunday morning when Jesus appeared, the earth must have swelled with new life and beauty.  Everything was alive again!  We are going to be alive again too.

Hold on to this for hope...

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland...to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim (celebrate) my praise."  Isa. 43:18-21

Yup, I'm ready for some spring!  I want some resurrection, some new life.  How about you?  Fasten your seatbelt.  It's coming.  Keep your eyes open and perceive it.