Wednesday Wonder

Spring has finally sprung!

While the calendar may have said spring began about six weeks ago, it finally feels that way. The sun has been shining, the temperature has truly been warmer, and the flowers and leaves are showing themselves.

Easter and spring go hand in hand. They are both a time of new life. They both signal that even when we think all is lost, that death has won, there is more. There is always something more. That is the promise of God clearly showing humans it is true.

Our blessings flow in abundance, but so often we get caught up in the darkness and scarcity. We fail to see beyond. Easter is all about beyond. Beyond death is life. Beyond today is tomorrow. Beyond what we can see, is something more.

There is a poem I often use at funerals to remind us of this something more. I want to share it with all of you, just promise not to give me a hard time if you hear again at the next funeral where I am presiding.

Life and Love Continue
A stream can have no ending,
for the ocean never ends.
A path winds on, though we can’t always
see around its bends.
Our view must stop where earth meets the sky,
but both stretch on and on.
We cannot see our loved ones,
still, we feel they are not gone –
for life hints of another place,
just beyond what we can see,
beyond these limits of time and space,
where life and love continue in eternity. (Anonymous)

Spring is a very real example of this each year. Until the first shoots poke through the ground and the first buds appear on the trees, we are not sure if life will return to the earth. And each year, it does. Not always at the same time, but always, it does return.

As we go through life, there are various times and events that feel like that Easter or spring promise. Passing through and coming out the other side feels like a new life, a new season.

This year, for me, this feels very real. I will be away and out of the pulpit until the beginning of August. What needs to be done will be the signal that a new season has arrived for me. The journey that has been such a part of my life for just over a year, will be behind me. The buds are opening, the flowers starting to bloom. Life begins again. It will be new and slightly different if the predictions of my doctors are true. But it will be life and it will be there to live to the full.

I look forward to getting back into life with all of you. A new season of our life together begins again upon my return.

Until then, blessings on your spring and summer. May they hold many signs of new life and the love of God which surrounds you.