Spring Forth in Hope

Spring Forth in Hope
We have survived one week since we “springed” forward into Daylight Savings Time.   Are you adjusted?  How are the children?  Are they springing out of bed, ready to go or whining and murmuring under their breath?  Actually, as adults we may be doing the same.  What an adjustment we have to make every year.  If feels like we have been doing this for a lifetime but in the US only since 2007 but not all states practice the time change and we are not alone.  Up to 70 countries spring their clocks forward in the spring and back in the fall since the inception in the early 1900’s.

I remember our first spring in Mexico City in 2003.  On a Sunday morning in March, as is our practice, we got up, dressed and headed out the door to church.  We had decided to attend one of the larger churches in our area and made it to the front doors when we were stopped from entering by a door greeter.  However, we were very insistent that we were going to attend that service.  The church was packed and we sat quickly down on the back row.  The offering plates were being passed and then everyone rose to sing.  At the conclusion of the singing, the service was dismissed.  Yes, we were in a country that practiced Daylight Savings and were totally unaware having arrived to church at the conclusion of the service.  No wonder the door greeter was perplexed that we would be so insistent to enter the church at the conclusion of the service. 
 
This “signals” in our mind, with the adjustment of the clocks, that Spring is coming. . I typically say Fall is my favorite season of the year, but honestly, in weighing all of the excitement I have for Spring, this time of year actually wins out as my favorite for so many reasons.  I think, generally speaking for me, Spring brings a sense of hope.  After a wintery period of dark, cold, gray days where things are “dying” and appear lifeless, Spring burst forth hope with new buds, plants pushing up through the barren ground, birds are chirping and flying with their life long partners preparing their nest and I can go on with the excitement and hope in the air.

I love to garden so it would make sense that Spring is a wonderful time of year.  It is a time of year that “screams” hope in my mind. This year, I have already been out and pruned everything in the front yard and just need to tackle the back, the area concealed by our stockade fence, my oasis.  Some of the kids and grandchildren were here this last weekend.  One of the sons was in the backyard made a comment that he had never seen my yard with so many weeds.  It is true.  For the last couple of years, I have lacked desire and motivation to find the usual refuge and contentment in working in my yard.  As I reflect back, I could easily “chalk” it up to the Pandemic, my mother passing, and long work hours in the hospital on the ICU floor/Emergency Room.  Spring has not been springing forward in my life the last couple of years. The result has been a neglected yard that abounds with undesirable weeds.  While I did plant some things last Spring, I didn’t attend to those “weeds” that grow so quickly without any care. 
 
One of the pleasures I have when I work in the garden is the time I spend talking with the Lord in prayer.  I typically will spend 2-4 hours on a Friday and Saturday puttering around doing things to beautify the garden.  I just get lost in what I am doing and in communication with the Lord.  An old hymn, speaks to my feelings perfectly, “ I Come to the Garden Alone” (In the Garden) by C. Austin Miles.  I go alone, not because Darrell does not like to garden which is true but because it is one of the places I meet God and I go when the dew is on my roses.  He walks and talks with me in my garden and I feel I am His own.  In reality, it is not my physical garden but the garden of my heart that He faithfully attends to each and every day.

This song explains it all why I can spend so much time in my garden.  And as I am having commune with God while I am gardening, not only am I pulling those weeds, pruning my roses, removing the unwanted “volunteered” growth that somehow planted in my oasis, I am pulling the dead, awful “weed” growth in my own life.  God reveals my own personal need for pruning to take place.  The unforgiveness, judgmental, impure motives and so many more issues that have lead me down the “wintry” season for too long. Through repentance, I find a living hope in a new season, renewed with and by my Creator.
 
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17.  There is hope!
 
Isaiah 40:31 tells us, 31 but those who hope in the Lord
 will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles;
 they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
 
Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Psalm 42:11
 
Psalm 62:5-6, Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. 6 Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
 
Billy Graham, an evangelist who lead many people to Christ stated; “ For the believer there is hope beyond the grave, because Jesus Christ has opened the door to heaven for us by His death and resurrection.”
 
1 Peter 1:3-6 states, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
 
In the attempt of “unearthing” my garden and my heart, some things can be removed easily but then some have deep roots, so much so it takes a lot of effort to pull them out.  Occasionally, one needs help, like that Maple tree in the back yard that died two years ago during our “great” snowstorm of 2020.  I can’t remove it by myself. I will need help from an expert.  So it is with the pruning and purifying our heart.  Go to the Lord in prayer, asking for His forgiveness and healing and when the roots are too hard to dig up, seek help from a professional counselor.
 
I have to remind myself that the clean up does not have to all happen in one day.  It’s a progressive work.  I gain strength as I pull, dig, rake and clean up which encourages me to keep going and not give up. But in this great endeavor (I have a large backyard), I have to take breaks to rest my body and heart. Trust God in his guidance in the pruning, repair and restoration.
 
You know, I haven’t said much about my front yard.  In that location, we keep it looking very nice with few weeds to remove. Isn’t that how it is with our life? On the outside, people  see a fairly well kept together person but behind the stockade fence, where people can’t see, our lives can resemble a jungle with lots of vines, weeds and chaos that needs to be cleaned up.
 
In whatever season you find yourself, jump with both feet into the hope that Spring brings to our hearts and souls. We can find peace, healing and renewal.  EASTER IS COMING!

My prayer for you is Romans 15:13.  May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
 
Blessings,
Karen