“Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection,
 not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.”
— Martin Luther

Dear Hope Family,

I would say that once February ends, pretty much everyone is ready for winter to be over and spring to begin. Why is that? Is it because we just hate the cold? I can hear many of you answering emphatically, “Yes! That’s exactly what it is.” Maybe that’s part of it. Or maybe it’s because deep inside of us we long for resurrection. We want to be reminded that dead things can sprout up anew and that life can flourish again.

Sure, we might enjoy the Christmas season or a day of sledding and snowball fights followed by hot chocolate next to a warm fire. But perpetual winter would weigh on us with such gravity that we couldn’t bear the burden. We know — even if it is subconscious — that each spring is, as Luther put it, the “promise of resurrection.”

So how do we participate in this yearly resurrection? And how can we allow the rhythms that God placed into the earth to affect the rhythms of our life with Him? It’s a question worth pondering. I suspect there are many answers, but I would like to propose one in particular.

There will always be a temptation to assume that the dark and cold seasons of life — those seasons we will all inevitably face — define us. We are tempted to believe that life is a series of dark and depressing days randomly interrupted by a glimmer of light and hope. But I would say that’s no way to live.

In nature, it’s the seasons of light and heat that sustain us through the dark and cold months. In the springtime we plant, in the summer we nurture, and in the fall we harvest. And we plant in the springtime with confidence in the consistency of God’s creation — that each month will continue to get warmer and each day will grow longer. During those days we get busy. We maximize our harvest. We cut and store firewood. We patch our leaky roofs, etc.

However, when it comes to our walk with the Lord, we too often find ourselves in a malaise during the sunny times. We sit back and relax. Life is good, so why put yourself in uncomfortable places? But then when the nights get longer and the days get colder, we are unprepared — and it completely knocks us off our feet. Instead of enjoying our preserved food, dry firewood, and sealed-up roofs, we sit and feel wet, hungry, and cold. And worse yet, we blame God.

“Oh God!” we say. “Why have You put me in this position? Why has this lot been cast on me?”

To which God could justly reply, “I gave you months of life and light. Did you wake up and seek Me first? Did you prepare for the cold, or were you lazy and assumed every day would be warm and bright?”

So what do we do?

Pull up the weeds and plant the seeds. Seek out those things in your heart that the world has planted, then earnestly and passionately seek first the Kingdom of Heaven. Feed on the Word of God as if it were your lifeline. Store the Word of God in your heart so that when the darkness comes, you have more than enough to live on. And hold a deep conviction that springtime will come again, along with more seasons of plenty.

Godspeed,

Pastor Dan