Spring Always Comes

Spring has begun to show itself here in Texas and, although the winter has been mild, it’s a welcome friend. I love Spring with every part of my being.  I love the fragrance of fresh-cut grass, newly budding flowers and spring rains.  I love the vibrant colors of our Texas sunsets and the various shades of green earth against the bright blue sky. I love the sound of birds in the morning, children laughing in a park, and lawn mowers humming. And, I love the feel of the sun on my skin that assures me Spring will always come.

No matter how long the winter.

This affinity for Spring is in my blood.  My Nanny was a gardener with a green thumb that I can only dream of having.  Her yard is still one of my favorite childhood memories. It has become something of a fairytale in my mind.  A place of beauty and wonder that seemed larger than life.  Much larger than I’m sure it was.  Every Easter, my Papaw would take me to the little town of Many, Louisiana to buy a new dress at the “5 and Dime” store so I could wear it to Hodges Garden’s Sunrise Easter service. I was so small that I barely remember more than putting on my new dress and patent leather shoes, falling asleep in the car and waking to the sound of hymns and the warmth of the sunrise over the most beautiful field of azaleas that you can imagine. Spring memories could go on and on in my mind…sitting on the back of my daddy’s bike and riding through Audubon Park…pulling up sprigs of grass and little white flowers off our shrubs to make my mom a homemade Easter corsage…hunting for eggs after church…crawfish boils…family picnics with chips, cokes and bologna sandwiches at roadside parks on road trips.

Spring is full of life to me.  Feeling it, smelling it, seeing it, hearing it, tasting it, living it but, most importantly, realizing after a long winter that it always comes.

Life that is.

As I sit on my porch for the first time this year and watch the birds at my feeders, I’m grateful for the fact that winter can never stop spring from coming.  It’s not that I hate winter.  It’s a needed part of life and, to be brutally honest, winter makes spring so much more beautiful. Not just because we appreciate it more after long months of darkness although that’s true but because a hard winter actually does something deep in the earth that causes plants to be stronger and more vibrant and pests to be less pervasive and destructive. Winter can seem hopeless at the time but there’s a rhyme and reason to it. There truly is a purpose for each season – even if it’s difficult to see at times.

The concept that each season has a purpose that prepares us for the next season is not an earth shattering one. I’m sure it isn’t new to you either. But I feel compelled to acknowledge how this last year has chiseled this truth down deep into my soul. My faith has been strengthened as I’ve seen God’s faithfulness in bringing about each season at just the right time and for his perfect purposes. It’s also grown a passion in me to be actively involved in each season of life and to make each as productive as humanly possible.

What I mean is…I want to be a gardener. I want to work the soil of my life in such a way that God is glorified when Spring comes.  We aren’t called to a passive life of tentatively pursuing or obeying God while we wait to see what happens.  Granted, we don’t know what’s coming in our lives, but we can know that something is coming. Winter always does. It’s a necessity of life.  It can take many forms, but we can’t avoid it. It may be that life simply gets dark, cold or dull. It may mean that we experience hopelessness, death, sorrow or pain. Whatever it may be, at some point, we will always encounter winter. BUT we also encounter spring, summer and fall. God is so gracious in that way. The question is, will we make the most of the time we have in each?

Proverbs 6:6-8 says “Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones.  Learn from their ways and become wise! Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter.” Proverbs 20:4 says it like this, “Those too lazy to plow in the right season will have no food at the harvest.”

The truth of the statement “God prepares and provides for our future trials today” has been revealed to me as I’ve seen how past obedience resulted in a solid foundation that has sustained me in my storms. Yes, he is a gracious and merciful God who often gives us what we need even when we have turned a deaf ear to the Spirit; but preparation and provision for the winter often come through the work done in the summertime of our lives.

Summer is a time of hard work! If you’ve ever had a garden that you’ve started from seed or planted by hand you know how difficult it can be. Tilling up hard ground, pulling up all sorts of stuff you don’t want to grow, adding fertilizer to prepare the soil…it’s backbreaking and exhausting.  On top of that, it’s SLOW! As you wait to see the first sign of growth peeking up through the dirt, you can start to wonder if anything is happening.  Then, once things start to grow, it’s still a long process of weeding, fertilizing and waiting to see the fruit of your labors. That’s our part in the process. God is in charge of the growth and the timing, but we have the responsibility and privilege to get our hands dirty in the endeavor. And we get to feel the joy that comes in the harvest.

Speaking of harvest…I love that season too.  I love the feeling of accomplishment that comes with picking, eating and canning the fruit of the summer.  Of shorter days and cooler nights spent with family around the table eating fresh vegetables and having long talks.  We don’t seem to anticipate the winter in the fall.  I mean, we know it’s coming at some point, but I never really know when or how bad it will be.  So, my focus is on the moment and on enjoying what God has provided. I seldom think of what I’ll be facing in a few months; unlike my grandparents who had a keen awareness of their need to be prepared for the winter. My ability to run to Wal-Mart for food in December has stripped the power from the meaning behind this concept of preparation. Or, at least, it’s lessoned the urgency of it for me. However, spiritually speaking, the urgency is there and the importance of preparing our hearts during the summer and autumn of life so that we can face the winter can’t be stressed enough.  It’ll keep us going when life seems overwhelming.  It will keep hope in our hearts, breath in our lungs and warmth in our souls when all we see is death, fear and darkness.

We may not realize what God is planting during the long, hot days of summer as we obediently spend time in His word, cultivate community, seek to know him in prayer and ruthlessly deal with sin but it will prove to be exactly what we need.  The fruit that we finally see produced in our lives as we desire his will above our own and as He lavishly pours out grace and blessing over us will become the very thing we offer as a blessing to others in our darkest days. All the time spent growing to know and love our Father will sustain that love when all we have are questions.  During my own personal winter God spoke these verses deep into my soul as an encouragement and a prayer to make the most of every season.

“But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.  They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.”  Psalm 1:2-3

I want to live my spring and summers in such a way that I bear fruit, of some sort, in the winter. (Even if it’s just to continue wanting to continue when all I really feel like doing is giving up).  I hope that my faith in His goodness and kindness is never eclipsed by my own suffering and heartache. I desire to relish and know his healing and hope in the spring, his life and joy in the summer and his provision and connection in the fall so that fear is thoroughly killed and love, faith and trust survive and thrive during whatever winters lie ahead.

Because I know this to be true…. Spring will always come.

One way or another…life will break through the darkness in Technicolor beauty that touches every one of my senses. I will be grateful for the chance to partner with Christ, in some small way, as an apprentice gardener to this world around me that He has planted and tended so lovingly. And God will remind me of His limitless creativity and passion to bless me in countless ways as I sit in awe of His ability to revive, restore and resurrect.

All for His glory.

Holy Bible New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188, USA. All rights reserved.