SPRING!!!

The daffodils are blooming! That is the first sign that spring is around the corner. I love driving to work and seeing explosions of color! Pinks, whites, yellows are the first to arrive. I love spring, it's my very favorite time of year. I guess for the same reason I love the morning best, everything is new and fresh. It's a clean slate.

Spring represents hope to me, why, even Jesus rose from the dead in the spring. I think spring is a reminder that there IS life after death. There is life after we lose someone we love to death as well as eternal life after we ourselves die.

There was a time in my life that I thought I was dead, not physically, but emotionally and spiritually. One particular day in February 2001 I looked at myself in the mirror and only saw death. I went to the park I used to go to for comfort. There was a particular rock I spent hours on crying out to God and wondering why He would let me suffer so. I felt He deserted me. (Isn't that is how death makes us feel, like God has deserted us) I went to the park and headed down the trail to "my" rock. As I began walking I pointed out to God that I was surrounded by death, (the trees, grass, bushes, all brown) and how much it reflected my inside. As I reached out to grab a twig to keep my hands busy while walking, the twig only bent, it would not break! While it was brown and brittle on the outside the inside was green. God whispered to me, "Lynn, you are just like that twig, I know you only see death, but there is life inside of you. I promise, spring is coming."

While "spring" didn't come quickly, it did come but the promise of it's arrival was energy to go on another day. I had God's promise and THAT I knew I could count on!

With Jason's death, I have been reminded of that incident so many years ago. Jason's family and those of us that loved him can have hope that spring is coming, death is not the end. When I see new life this spring I will think of the "new life" Jason is experiencing right now, in Heaven! I will also know that there will be spring for all of us who loved him.

Isaiah 61:3 is our "Spring is coming" promise... and provide for those who grieve in Zion - to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

I love spring!