Spring of Life

Having lived most of my years either in a climate that is perpetually green (southern California) or perpetually "brown" (central Arizona), living in the dynamic climate of northern Texas has brought new appreciation for the regenerative quality of nature.

Following winter's chill and resultant tan (dormant) grass, grey-barked leafless trees and bloomless flowers, it is a fascination of nature to "watch the world come back to life" (even at the expense of an over abundance of weeds). The grasses are green, the trees are leafing and the bluebonnets have sprung to life in a magnificent array of color in random patches across the landscape. Hope springs to life -- what once was a colorless void is now full of brilliance and beauty. Birds have returned to nesting, insects are doing whatever insects do (just try and guess how many mosquito bites I have from last night's softball games) and things just seem... "better."

This week is an amazing week in the Christian calendar. The week leading up to Resurrection Sunday is a week of transformative power transcending space and time. The days leading to the Cross were like the usherance of winter... a slowing down towards what appeared to be permanent dormancy. At the Cross, it was as if the world and time stood still. All the followers of Christ seemed to fall away like the last leafs of a great Red Oak until there were only three remaining at the foot of the Cross. Was all lost? It appeared as much, but then Sunday came!

With a rush of power beyond that which anyone can imagine, life broke forth from the grave and True Life was made abundant to all who believe. Beauty came forth as does life from all the bare dryness and dormancy of the soul's winter and burst forth into new life -- the old has gone, the new has come! It was the Spring of Life that reigns forever more!