With Spring Comes Life

I believe I have looked forward to the warmth and green of spring this year more than any other. It’s been fairly warm outside the last few days, even at night, and several trees have already begun getting leaves. I look out my window as I write this and see how so much has already turned green. In another couple of weeks, flowers will be out. I look forward to their beauty. I’ve already been enjoying the buttercups. They always seem to be the first of any flowers that bloom, and they always remind me of Easter and of life renewing itself. And I look forward to being able to work out in the yard again, taking longer hikes, and being able to travel a bit more as well.

I think of spring and I’m reminded just how precious life is. God gives us the ability to exist, to have conscience, to know Him, to be in relationship with others, to live. He breathes life into all of us. We live because we are His creation, and He wants us.

I have two nephews that I cherish deeply. They were unexpected to say the least, and the entire family worried about how life would change when they came about. Their being certainly did change a lot of things—some for the good, some for the bad—but they have been perhaps the biggest blessing God has ever given us. I love them beyond any measure.

It bewilders me how so many people have such disregard or no appreciation at all for the life of others. I think about how easy it would have been for my nephew’s mother to have aborted them. She was young, unmarried, broke… fit the bill pretty well for that sort of thing. If she ever did anything right or good, however, it was in choosing to give birth to her sons. But there are so many people who have made that other decision: to err on the side of death. And I wonder if they have any idea what sort of thing they really gave up. I’ve seen diagrams and videos depicting abortion before, like the one here, and I can say it is a horrendously, monstrous act—one that I couldn’t imagine even contemplating doing.

I look at how nature is beginning to come alive again, and I wonder how many babies will never know it. And not only them, but how many desperate people will have taken their lives and not see another beautiful spring day, or a murdered person whose opportunity to do so was taken away from them. How many non Christians passed from this world into the next, now dead to all things forever? I think it’s sad really, how so many people can choose death over life. And I wonder if they really know at all what they’re doing or what they’re giving up.

I choose life, defend life, and promote life, because I know how truly valuable it is. And so this spring, as everything in nature seems to come alive again, I hope you'll take a few minutes every once and a while to think about how precious a gift God has given us--in all things living--and thank Him for such a truly miraculous blessing.

The Snowmaker

I have to say I really do enjoy the snow. It comes in and covers over all the dark, gloomy, wet, nastiness that is so typical of the winter outdoors, replacing it with such beauty. The pure white just makes everything bright and fresh. The flakes falling through the air brings about such an excitement for me. It's almost like static in the air. There's just an energy about it that can't be described.

It's been said that more people suffer from depression during winter than at any other time of the year. I can see why sometimes. Everything just looks so depressing. The ground is wet and muddy, the sky is gray and cloudy, the trees are all leafless and bare, there are no flowers, it's cold, and daylight itself is cut short. It's just one of those gloomy times of the year. For that reason, of all the seasons, winter is usually represented as death. And death, in itself, is typically looked at as something depressing. Death is an end to life, and brings with it an incredible sadness. During winter, we see that all around us in nature. We see a loss of life.

I like the snow because it's a reminder of what Jesus can do for us when we let Him into our lives. He takes away all the darkness. He takes away all the ugliness. He comes in like the snow and covers over all that is bad and in such a beautiful way. I think God gives us the snow for the same reason He gave us Jesus. He knows that in the darkness, we need to see some light. In the ugliness of life, we eventually need to see some beauty. We need hope for something better.

And in the same way Jesus can transform the landscapes of our lives, in the same way He brings to life what is dead, we have the springtime to look forward to. And just like the snow, I believe God gives us the spring for the same reason He gave us Jesus. He knows that in death, we need life. In the darkness, we need light. In the ugliness, we need beauty. In the cold, we need warmth. Again, we have something better to look forward to. We have something to hope for.

In the winter, I look forward to the snow. It gives me hope for better days. It makes me feel alive. And I thank God for designing a world that would have snow. It would be hard to make it through a cold, drab winter without it.

I'm glad He knows just the right way to always lift my spirit. It's snowing right now, and it's just so beautiful!

I love every minute of it!