The New Life of Springtime
“Achoo!” Have any of you heard that sound recently? I have. It is one of the signs that Spring in Central Texas is upon us. Why God allows us to have allergies is one of the questions I have for Him when my time comes. Admittedly, it is pretty low on the list, but it is on the list. Why must I suffer when spring is a season of green grass, flowers, and birds singing sweet melodies of love?
As I think about the spring season, I think about new life. I also think about the smell of skunks, but that’s another article. Did you know that to experience the new life of spring, we must go through fall and winter? We tend to forget that around here. Our winter is not very long compared to those Yankees up north. However, spring requires a winter.
I find it intriguing that things must die or become dormant in winter. In a sense, things “die” in winter because the cold temperatures and reduced daylight hours create harsher conditions that make survival difficult for many plants and animals. This leads to a period of dormancy or apparent death, which is often followed by renewal in spring, signifying a cycle of life and rebirth. Winter is a time of death to prepare for a fresh start in the warmer months.
I do not think that it is a coincidence. I believe it is part of God’s well-conceived plan to give us real-life applications of spiritually true things. For example, Jesus was a master teacher who used his day’s television screens and PowerPoint presentations. Think about it. Jesus, on the side of a hill teaching with the crowd sitting above or below him and behind him, a man throwing seed into his freshly plowed field as he discussed the four types of soil of a man’s heart - broken soil and ready to receive seed, rocky soil, thorny soil, or soil too hard and seed bounces off it. The crowd got it.
As we enter into spring, a season of new life, has the season of winter made you question God’s care for you? If so, remember that winter must come before spring. He has not left you or abandoned you. He wants to see new life spring forth in you. He wants you to drink from the fountain that never runs dry. He wants you to know that his care and concern for you is more than you can imagine.
When someone says, “Achoo!” We have a tradition of saying, “God Bless You!” It’s springtime. May God bless you with new life this spring.