seasons

Have you ever been a part of winter so long that you were unable to fathom green grass and warm sunshine? Yesterday morning I noticed the maintance man plodding along the area adjacent to the library, mowing what I thought to be a lack of grass. I snickered as I thought of a huge snowstorm covering the now groomed lawn. This notion passed quickly and I did not give this scene a second thought; it was a moment to be lost in time and space.

Until now.

The Lord is sovereign and merciful and his love endures forever. Until I witnessed a law mower on an early April morning, the thought of spring seemed a distant memory to me. My mind was focused on the bitter cold of the winter, on the horrible driving conditions, and on the freezing uncomfortableness (I know this is not a word, but its pronunciation encompasses the meaning). The last season was etched irrevocably in my mind, and I left no room for new thoughts. Yes, I knew that my denial of the coming season would not prolong it, and in fact, I would have loved just the opposite, but in my mind it was prolonged.

The Lord is faithful to bring us through many seasons in our life - some of them more sorrowful, painful, and lonely than others. But he is always there to bring warm sunshine after a bitter cold winter, bright mornings after a dark night, and new seasons after old ones have passed by. Yes, it can be easy to miss the coming spring, but that does not mean it is not coming. We may be deceived in our minds as to the coming life, but there will be no delay in the goodness of its power.

When we ask the Lord for a new season, a better season, we need to watch for it. We need to be posted on the highest rampart and we need to spot its arrival from afar. It can be easy to sink into the mundane expectations of the present season, but God is good and he blesses his children. Grow to expect that.

Yay, spring is here - don't you think so? I didn't then, but I do now.