For Everything There is a Season: Hope like Springtime

There is a place I know where the flowers and trees awaken from their slumber. A place where the fresh colors of new life cloud over the dullness of the cloudy expanse. That place is here, right now. A place where the woods come back to life and God breathes life into all creation once again.​

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.

It was 57 degrees out this afternoon and I could totally get used to wearing my springtime jacket! 

Oh springtime, I am totally a fan!!!

The sun was out, the trees were starting to bloom with life, and I forgot, just for a second, that the winter had drained all life from the trees.

It was one of those March days where the sun is sinks deep into your skin and the warm wind brushes through your hair. It was a day of hope! A hope for a new season. A hope for spring.

Isaiah 35:1
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing.

Change is beautiful. Even the springtime thinks so!

When I think of spring, I always come back to the verse in Revelation (21:5) that says, “He is making all things new.” He is healing us in this season. 

Even the deepest of roots are confident in God’s plan to renew their strength. So why shouldn't we?

Sorrow walks hand-in-hand with new blooms and it is so beautiful to finally see how God uses one season to strengthen another. Because you know what? I don’t think the magic of spring would be half as beautiful without winter.

There is something about this beautiful season that heals our weary hearts. There is something so reassuring with knowing that there is hope within tomorrow-- that God’s goodness is present with each new sunrise and that new life follows the old. 

Just know, even in winter when everything loses life, there is something hopeful and exuberant about the changing of seasons. Flowers come to life. Colors fill the earth and animals come out of hiding. Birds begin to chirp and the fresh breeze blows through our hair.

I pray, sister, that God awakens your heart with the hope of a new, fresh season.

If winter has enough courage to bloom after a season of sorrow, then who says we are incapable of doing the same?

Oh, what plans God has for you and I in this coming season! There is such joy in new beginnings!

Blossom by blossom, spring finds its way into our hearts and our caged bird song begins to sing again. 

Zechariah 10:1
Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime; it is the Lord who sends the thunderstorms. He gives showers of rain to all people, and plants of the field to everyone.