These last dregs of winter have been so odd. For starters I refuse to complain about winter weather when I know what the Northeast has endured with feet of snow and all the challenges entailed. But I am so excited to see my favorite spring ritual begin, one I missed every spring for the past dozen years while I lived in the South.
As I look outside my window I see what I have seen all winter, lots of bare branches, dead leaves and flora and an occasional squirrel or rabbit. But soon there will be a hint of green budding out, crocuses popping up, then red-bud trees and tulip trees peeking through, then hyacinths, tulips and daffodils and more green in the trees. The birds and squirrels will build nests and the sun will begin to warm the earth.
This is has been the backdrop of my life for most of my years and I think I find it so enchanting because spring is the promise of renewal, regeneration, and rebirth. This is something we all need. I get a bit frustrated at the mania of the past few years to find the clay feet of anyone who achieves any kind of worthwhile goal. But this is a natural blow-back from all the unrealistic hero worship that preceded it.
The Bible has better sense. I can not think of any major player in Judeo-Christian history that did not have clay feet because the obvious truth is that no one is without flaws, no one grew up without making mistakes, sometimes some pretty embarrassing mistakes. They were real people with real flaws and real challenges and still they found in God the guidance, strength and endurance to achieve good things exactly because they knew their own weaknesses so instead relied on God to do the heavy lifting.
That is the promise of spring and the reality of God. It is never a bad time, never too late, never a lost cause to turn our face toward God and ask for rebirth, regeneration, redemption and hope for the future.
"But the Lord is the one who is marching before you! He is the one who will be with you! He won’t let you down. He won’t abandon you. So don’t be afraid or scared!” Deuteronomy 31:8
As I look outside my window I see what I have seen all winter, lots of bare branches, dead leaves and flora and an occasional squirrel or rabbit. But soon there will be a hint of green budding out, crocuses popping up, then red-bud trees and tulip trees peeking through, then hyacinths, tulips and daffodils and more green in the trees. The birds and squirrels will build nests and the sun will begin to warm the earth.
This is has been the backdrop of my life for most of my years and I think I find it so enchanting because spring is the promise of renewal, regeneration, and rebirth. This is something we all need. I get a bit frustrated at the mania of the past few years to find the clay feet of anyone who achieves any kind of worthwhile goal. But this is a natural blow-back from all the unrealistic hero worship that preceded it.
The Bible has better sense. I can not think of any major player in Judeo-Christian history that did not have clay feet because the obvious truth is that no one is without flaws, no one grew up without making mistakes, sometimes some pretty embarrassing mistakes. They were real people with real flaws and real challenges and still they found in God the guidance, strength and endurance to achieve good things exactly because they knew their own weaknesses so instead relied on God to do the heavy lifting.
That is the promise of spring and the reality of God. It is never a bad time, never too late, never a lost cause to turn our face toward God and ask for rebirth, regeneration, redemption and hope for the future.
"But the Lord is the one who is marching before you! He is the one who will be with you! He won’t let you down. He won’t abandon you. So don’t be afraid or scared!” Deuteronomy 31:8
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