March is a fickle month. You never quite know what you’re going to get from one moment to the next. A late winter storm might blow in overnight, only to have all the snow melt by mid-afternoon. Such is spring in the Mid-West where I grew up as well as in my present home in the mountains of East Tennessee. Yet even when the landscape appears dead, there are signs of spring emerging beneath the surface. For this is the season when all things are made new.
If you have eyes to see and ears to hear, clear evidence of spring abounds. Within my flower beds, tiny shoots push up through the soil, and the song of the Carolina Bluebird rings across the yard. A red haze covers the mountain forests as the maples begin their budding. In response, my honeybees send out foragers searching for this early pollen. New life bursts forth despite winter’s efforts to squelch it.
Sometimes my soul feels like the winter refuse of dead leaves and branches covering my flower beds. The cares of this world, both personal and corporate, weigh me down. My father’s recent death after a long illness and suffering seems surreal even as I mourn the loss to dementia of the vibrant mother I once knew and enjoyed. Life takes its toll even on the strong ones—the ones everyone else depend on for stability. We are all human and susceptible to pressures from within and without.
Even King David, a man after God’s own heart, lamented the failings in his spirit. Enemies within and without vied for his attention and temptation threatened to tear him from the Father’s love. But David recognized the source of his strength and returned to the Lord again and again.
Hear my cry. O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.
Psalms 61: 1-4 NIV
Meanwhile, the Lord sought David even as He seeks each one of us today. When all things are made new in Christ, our hearts are washed clean and His Spirit makes a home within us. But this doesn’t mean we won’t continue to struggle from time to time. The Psalms detail the depths of despair in our human condition throughout the laments. David and the other psalmist recorded these seasons of winter for the benefit of believers over the millennia. Now as then, we are not alone in our suffering, and the Lord hears our cries for relief.
Fresh life springs up when we least expect it. Do you have eyes to see and ears to hear it?
Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old. I am about to do 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 so that they might declare my praise.
Isaiah 43: 18-21 NRSVUE
Although winter casts darkness over our days, the Lord always offers light and refreshment within our struggles. A magnificent sunset. The laugh of a child. Or a surprise blossom rising up through the garden refuse. God has never failed to show me joy and beauty throughout my life even in my lowest moments. These signposts of grace hint at a greater promise yet to come—when all things are made new for eternity and the winter in our lives will pass away forever.
Praise God for the renewal of Spring and the foretaste of things to come. Lord, give us the strength to faithfully carry on your Kingdom work on earth as it is in heaven, now and forever. Amen!
And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.”
Revelations 21: 3-5 NKJV
