Spring’s Hope
“…but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.” Isaiah 40:31
Spring has sprung! Yesterday was the first day of spring and where I live it shows. Flowers have begun to bloom and the trees are starting to bud. This morning I saw a robin perched on a fence. When I was growing up I was taught that the redbreast robin was a harbinger of spring. We have also been having warmer temperatures lately and actually gotten to see a lot of the sun.
Spring is truly a wonderful time of the year. Some praise spring because it means the dark, cold, gloomy days of winter are over. Others delight in spring because of all the new growth and beauty that comes with it. In both reasons I find spiritual parallels.
Winter truly can be a hard and depressing time. If it were not for the promise of spring I’m not sure some folks would make it. In each of our lives come “wintry” periods—times when life gets to be too much for us. It can be precipitated by a prolonged illness, the death of a loved one, economic woes, a spiritually dry period in our lives, or a host of other things. It happens to all of us. Those who are followers of Jesus, however, know that wintry periods do not last forever. They are always followed by spring. That is our hope. Either in this life or in the one to come, we always know that just as spring follows winter better days are coming. It is this hope which sustains us.
As noted above, spring is the time when the earth seems to go through a period of renewal. There is an explosion of color and life and light. This transition occurs every year but we’re still awed when it happens again. In much the same way there are periods of growth and renewal in the Christian life. Interestingly enough, these often follow the wintry periods mentioned earlier and when they do come everything looks different to us. In our world there is more color, life and light—even if this comes in winter. The Creator who renews the earth on a regular basis apparently also intends for us to have times of spiritual renewal. This, too, is cause for hope. It means we don’t have to be, or won’t always be, where we are now. It means God still has many blessings to bestow upon us.
I hope and pray that these days of spring will be a time of renewal for you.
–Chuck
(The spring image above was taken at Laurel Lake, near Corbin, Kentucky.)