Earth, teach me regeneration as the seed which rises in the spring.
William Alexander
I had a sudden realization a few weeks ago, that I had been in England every year for the past four years during the daffodil blooming season. These yellow lovelies, I believe, are happy flowers, delighted to be alive and blooming in their glory.
It was so wondrous after a very cold winter with the dark and dirty that comes with it, to be reminded that spring is on the way--nothing can hold it back. Perhaps many of us need to have hope that there is a spring season of life, beauty and strength just ahead.
Each winter when all appears to be dead or dying, daffodils pop up, as if out of nowhere, to proclaim, there just may be surprise and delightful life ahead.
The Unstoppable Power of Returning Spring
God masterfully transcribed lessons and insights of life into the very warp and woof of His creation. Spring, summer, winter and fall cast the pulse of life as we experience it.
A time to bloom, to grow full blown, to harvest and then all dies, for a season. Until the cycle of life starts over again.
But winter will not have the last word.
And so there are winters in our lives--times when it appears that everything is dead or dying. Cold, stormy weather beats at the windows of our hearts as well as the window pains of our rooms. As Jesus said in Matthew, there will be times when the storms will burst against our house.
During this darkness of cold, there is a deepening of roots that will allow new and better growth, a putting off of the old leaves and wilted fruit to make way for the new. It is in the darkest of nights that wisdom is learned, perspective is given, humility clothes our soul.
Though in the middle of the night, as in the middle of winter, gloom flows over and the fog of despair rains hard on our hearts. However, this is not the end of our story.
As I was preparing for our Mum Heart conference in London, my sweet friends spoiled me with a couple of nights at this lovely old home/turned inn that used to be the private home of the Gilberts of Gilbert and Sullivan musicals fame. I meandered the many acres by myself for hours and breathed in the beauty of spring, blooms and life that was everywhere a reflection of eternal life. . So sweet to my soul.
His going forth is as certain as the dawn, and He will come to us like the spring rain watering the earth.
Hosea 6:8
Yet, even as the sun rises every day after the dark of night, so spring comes every year after the gloom of winter, when even though all appears to be dead, all the powers of the world, all the strength of darkness, cannot hold spring back.
The power of returning spring is unstoppable,
as though God's song refuses to be quieted.
It is a force so strong that it defies all other forces and life will indeed show its glory, its beauty and strength, again.
Every year, when the darkness seems the longest, daffodils spring up first, even in what appears to be the dead of winter, as though ringing out the bells of the glory of the Life. Blooming "with all of their heart", they proclaim, hope is coming, light is on its way!
These, are a true picture of resurrection life.
Though all hope had been lost, and Jesus was brutally killed, wounded beyond recognition. Those who appeared as the teachers were instead false prophets, seeking to grab for themselves, in their love for power, ultimate authority, and consequently killed the very one who created them.
Tears, sadness, soul-black despondency filled those who had attached their very spirits to His being. Hope disappeared as the sun in a cloud.
But, like the power of returning spring, the grave could not hold Him.
Death was gloriously defeated.
And so the morning dawned, bright and sure, and our Lord defied all that was broken, all that was unjust, all that crushed each heart in this fallen place. Our Jesus brought back the life, that in our wildest dreams, we could only hope against hope, would be true.
Spring reminds us that our hope is sure.
His life conquers all death.
His love heals every wound.
And in heaven as on earth, our hope is sure--
darkness will not have the last word.
"I am the way, the truth and the life."
Nothing can stop the power of His redemption and love.
Let your heart be encouraged today,
He is risen, He is risen indeed.
And like spring, no power or force of man, or designs of the dark one, can hold back His resurrection life,
or His will, where He will indeed make all things new.
I pray blessings of joy, hope and light will come into your precious lives this week as you better understand the personal significance of His coming.
May you know his deep love today.
Spring is wild and uncontainable, so ever-present along my Colorado walks just now, but a visual reflection of His loveliness and redemption that is a promise.
May we each see the hidden messages, symbolic of His resurrection, through every spring flower and bloom and find His joy in this season.