THE BARREN BECOMING BEAUTIFUL
I love Spring for all the new life it brings. New Life from Dead Things. The trees sprouting green everywhere and buds just sprouting up and peeking through. It’s encouraging to me. I love the sunny yellow Daffodils that so strongly make their presence known, coming out of the gray days of winter. I’ve been watching my daffodils for a couple weeks now. They are a beautiful representation of seasons, community, and the cycles and seasons of life. The continued work that is always being done in us and through us.
A seed is sown. The roots journey their way through the soil to find that which helps sustain it, while the life within it looks upward for the sun to help it grow. The bulb shoots continue to grow and when the plant is flourishing it buds and a dainty yellow flower emerges. Over time, the flowers die off and eventually the plant dies back and goes dormant. Until the next season when it is time to bloom again. When the next season comes around though, it's never the same as it was before. The plant comes back stronger. Its roots are stronger, have spread out, and likely have created a new offshoot. And so the cycle repeats. Until there is a whole garden of daffodils.
This is so descriptive of the seasons of life and the work that is continually being done in us. God plants a seed in us and provides everything we need for it to grow. He prunes when it is needed and things even die back. Sometimes we even find ourselves in wilderness or dormant places. But there always comes a new season for new life. He starts a new work in us and we change and grow and so on and so forth. As we become more and more healthy and beautiful, we are more capable of feeding others and helping them thrive. And ultimately all of our splendor points back to His glory.
This is the hope of Spring and the Easter season for me. That God is always bringing new life from dead things. That the gray days don’t stay gray. That after 3 days, death became life. That Jesus takes the dry and barren wasteland that we are and gives us new life. Just like the Daffodil sprouts up from the dead and grows and bursts into bloom. This is the hope of Easter that we can walk in everyday. What was once barren becoming beautiful.
Many Blessings this Easter Season,
