It's been a pretty brutal winter. From the ice storm at Christmas that left a good bit of the city in the dark for days to the unusual cold this year to the frostquakes to the fact that winter just hasn't seemed to want to go away, most of us are more than a little ready to see spring. I don't normally mind the cold and snow, but there comes a point every year--generally around the end of February--when I start to wish it away. And with a harder winter, these longings are all the greater.
Now we're in that period of time when winter and spring are battling it out. I haven't decided whether winter is harder in January or in that season when spring seems like it could start tomorrow but there's no way to tell. One day it seems like spring is winning, and the next day, there's snow on the ground and ice hanging off the balcony again. The keys are constantly changing hands between the pockets of the winter coat and the spring jacket. And there is a lot of MUD out there. Even Easter was late this year. But if you look closely, you'll notice that the grass gets a little greener every day. Each time I'm outside, there are a few more buds on the trees. Even when our hope for spring gets crushed a little by another cold snap, we can be sure that it will eventually come, even if we have to wait for June. Spring has yet to completely fail us.
Every year--and this one especially--the slight undertone of green in that dry, brown grass reminds me that despite the hardships, isolation, storminess, death and bleak grayness of winter, spring is coming. Hope is not dead. It's an old analogy, but I am thankful each year for the ending of winter because it is an annual reminder that God is still able to create new life where there was death, to restore to youth and vitality that which was old and barren, to refresh and remake what looks dry and incapable of bringing forth life.
A month or so ago, I was standing beside Liberty Village Park with another woman (and our dogs), surveying the mud pit that was once a green space. She turned to me and said, "Do you think the grass is coming back this year? Between the dogs and the ice, I don't think it has a chance!" And I'll admit when she said this, I doubted with her. But you know what? The grass IS returning, and the park is ever so slowly turning green again. There will still be muddy spots for a while, and maybe there's a need for a bit of new grass seed, but the dogs and the ice couldn't keep the grass away. Spring always comes.
But if spring is analogous with new life and hope restored, then the analogy pales in comparison to the reality. Because the truth is that grass does wither and flowers do fade. But God's truth stands forever. His spring never fails, never fades, never ends. Where He makes new life, it remains for all eternity. And while we hope for the coming of spring merely because past experience tells us that this is how the seasons work, our hope for new life and the final restoration of all things that is to come is not based merely on the observation of cyclical seasons, but on the once and for all defeat of death and decay and bleakness at the Cross, and the resurrection of Jesus to new life as the firstborn from the dead. His resurrection guarantees our hope that we, too, will one day rise to new life. His defeat of death guarantees our hope that one day, the final Spring will come and death will be no more.
Where is the death and decay in your life right now? What are the impossible situations, the frigid circumstances that make you want to curl up under the covers and not come back out? Where is the bleakness and discouragement that makes you wonder if there is reason to hope for something better? Maybe you can't see any hints of green right now. Maybe all you see is failure or hardship. But take heart; spring WILL come. Winter does not have the final word. Jesus does. And he's already spoken it.
"Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert... to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise." (Isaiah 43:18-21)
"If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:19-23)
"And he who was seated on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.' Also he said, 'Write
this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.'" (Revelation 21:5)
No comments:
Post a Comment