The Hope Of Spring

I love spring. It has long been my favorite season. In case you missed it in the shuffle of pandemic-related news, the calendars say today is the first day of spring. If you are taking the time to read this, just pause a moment and be thankful for that. You, my lovely friend, have made it through another winter. Nevermind every other thing in the world right now. Just for a second, close your eyes, take a deep breath and thank God that you were able to do just that. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

Now, that’s better. I love spring for a number of reasons. When I was kid it always reminded me that it was time for baseball. That alone was enough. These days it’s more about hope. One of the things I particularly enjoy is the contrast coming out of winter into spring. Look at the picture attached to this post. Those blooms are the prettiest, most vibrant color when the sky is gray and they’re surrounded by the brown of the limbs. I’ll be guilty of not even noticing those trees by the time summer gets here and everything else has bloomed. Shame on me.

I so look forward to the colors of spring. The daffodils, the grass starting to green up and those flowering trees beginning to color up the landscape give me a real boost. I know, the same things set off your seasonal allergies – it’s not a perfect world and I can’t make it be one. But I can find beauty and hope and maybe remind you to look for it, too, regardless of today’s situation.

If you’re searching for hope and good in the world today, you don’t have to look hard. The contrast in the world is vivid right now. We know what contrast means but I like the wording of the actual definition – strikingly different from something else. Strikingly different. It reminds me of Jesus calming the storm. You can find this in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. Jesus and his disciples were in a boat crossing the lake. Jesus was asleep (on a pillow even, according to the version in Mark). A storm was raging. Disciples were panicking because the boat was filling with water.

Talk about strikingly different. He was asleep while they were terrified for their the lives. For those who aren’t familiar, they woke Him up, and He rebuked the wind and the waves. Then He questioned their lack of faith. I probably would’ve struggled to hold on to my faith in that moment as well. Fear is powerful, especially when you have so little control of the situation. Maybe experience is even telling you that it’s not good. Thankfully, Jesus is more powerful.

We can focus on whichever side of the contrast we want. But it’s exactly like Peter walking out on the water to Jesus. He was fine as long as he focused on Jesus. But when he took his eyes off of Jesus, he began to sink. Friends if we focus on the storm, it’s going to pull us down. If we focus on Christ, we can keep going.

This is an unusual time in the world. There is plenty of storm to frighten even the heartiest of souls. But that just means the contrast is all the better. Not to sound too much like Mister Rogers’ but his mom was on to something when she told him to look for the helpers.

Schools all over the country sent children home for an extended time. Then they immediately figured out how to keep feeding those children. The NBA cancelled the rest of the season and athletes stepped up and provided extra financial resources for those who work in those arenas. Restaurants and businesses are forced to drastically reduce or close operations and other business offer them cash to help ease the burden. People buy gift cards and take out to help.

Oh sure, we’ve seen the images of empty store shelves but we’ve also seen images of children playing music for their elderly neighbors, cars driving by and honking to celebrate a little kid because quarantine means he can’t have a proper birthday party. We’ve seen businesses offer free services and governments offer extensions and forgiveness.

Friends we can focus on the storm and the people who chose to look down or we can focus on the people and situations that are showcasing the best of humanity. We can look for those people that are showing kindness and loving their neighbors. If you don’t see one, be one. Keep focused on the hope. Keep your eyes on Jesus and the people who are behaving like Him.

Pandemic or no pandemic, spring begins today. Life and color and warmth are coming back. It is the Easter season when Jesus gave us the ultimate hope and proved that no storm, not even death, lasts forever. All of us have to go through winters and times of raging storms but exactly none of us have to stay there. Spring is an annual testament to that.