The Hope of Spring

Good Friday. As I perch on "my chair" in the far corner of the living room, sunlight is streaming in the opposite window aimed at the fish bowl sitting on an end table. (Well , really the fish bowl is a vase but we never got around to buying the plant for our beta fish.) The sunlight does dances and turns in the water and bounces off the glass. How pleasurable to look at.

My two daughters have awoken and are descending the stairs proclaiming, "Mom! There is a rainbow in our room. Come see it!" Sure enough a sunbeam was forcing itself through the side of the window's blind illuminating a rainbow on their pink wall.

You see, it has been a while since the cold, gray skies of winter have allowed the yellow warmth of the sun to shine through the clouds. These expressions of sunlight are truly a delight.

With Easter arriving the third week in March, I began decorating for Spring early this year. While the snow still covered the ground we put out pastel bunnies and replaced the dark colors of house linens with light and sheer ones. Hopeful thinking.

This same time the leaves of the daffodils and tulips are peaking through the thawing ground. I am pleasantly surprised to see snow-drops (a darling little white flower) also popping up all around the lamp post. I thought that I had accidentally dug them all out last year.

Aah, the hope of Spring's arrival. With the Spring Equinox and Easter converging on the same weekend, it is especially poignant to remember new birth, new life. Just when all hope seems to be lost, when it seems the sun will never shine again- it bursts forth.

How much more was that dark season for the followers of Jesus on that predestined day...
"And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachtani?'- which means, 'My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?'" (Mark 15:33-34) Jesus' followers did not understand at that time. They experienced darkness, confusion, grief, loss of hope. Until...

On the first day of the week (new beginnings) at the break of dawn (when the sun was just beginning to burst over the horizon)...the women saw that the stone had been rolled away, the tomb was empty, and a angel proclaimed, "He is not here, but is risen!" Hallelujah! I remember with goose bumps the final scene of The Passion of Christ. Without words that portrayal of Jeus, as He stood in the dark grave, the light streaming in echoing His triumph, said it all- the story of the ages...The Son of Man, the Son of God, accomplished what He set out to do before the foundation of the world- He gave His life and rose again in VICTORY. No one and nothing could keep Him in the grave! "And they (the women) remembered His words." (Luke 24:8,7) "That the Son of Man must be given over into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise." Blessed victory! Their darkness was illuminated.

God's timing is perfect, and He continually shows us in the marvels of His creation. He reminds us of His faithfulness even in sunlight streaming in a window, a small rainbow on a wall, flowers breaking forth from once frozen earth, and the change of seasons.

He still proclaims hope of this blessed assurance to us...
"I AM; and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Almighty and coming on the clouds of heaven." (Mark 14:62) Even so, come Lord Jesus!

Enjoy your Easter and the hope of Spring!