The Earth finally begins to come alive after its long somber slumber, when gray and grayer could be used to describe so much of nature.
Then, in that I-didn’t-notice-it-happening kind of way, spring suddenly springs! Life starts bursting out all over the place, and soon is at its height, its apex, its peak. What one assumes must surely be maximum freshness one day is easily surpassed the next, and things like death and decay are so distant as to be forgotten.
All nature is at its most praiseworthy in spring, and is also doing its best witnessing to God’s amazing creativity then, too. Flowers are just screaming, in their own silent way: “Look at what God made!”
They even stretch toward the heavens, greedily grabbing every bit of warmth they can, every particle of sunlight within their limited reach.
And we humans do some of our own gluttonous grabbing in this wondrous time of year, too, don’t we? Our starving senses drink in all we can: the visual beauty of all the vivid colors; the dewy/velvety feel of a rose petal; the sheer collision of fragrances in a flower garden gone mad.
And the wonderful cacophony of spring’s finest symphony surrounds us, happening all around! The natural noises of spring range from the tiniest of sound waves created by the flick of a fawn’s ear (that only the mother doe would hear), all the way to the thunderous crack-and-roar combination of glaciers calving.
Spring signals revival, reawakening, rejuvenation, and regeneration, and encourages growth and strength, but also tenderness and flexibility.
It almost seems cruel to drag stiff and ugly death into this delirious sea of life at its fullest.
But Jesus Himself talked about death being a necessary pre-requisite to life: “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” (John 12:24, NIV)
When one examines these sentences within the lengthier statement, He was drawing a comparison between Himself and the kernel of wheat. Beginning with verse 23: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. “ (John 12:23-25, NIV)
Jesus knew that for us to have life, both abundant life here on Earth and eternal life in heaven, He had to die.
So He did, willingly, die for us.
And rose again, also for us!
The whole point of spring, for those with the spiritual eyes to see it, is to remind us that Jesus defeated death, and returned to life. So long as life on Earth continues as we know it, the reminders will also continue, and the cycle of death and life and death will also march ever onward.
But…
…when life on Earth as we know it finally ends, on that day of days when He comes to take His people home, the most jaw-droppingly beautiful of our current spring days will be a paper-thin, ghostly echo of what glory really is.
The cycle will end, and we will find ourselves at the beginning of an everlasting burst of life!
No longer will there be any curse. (Revelation 22:3, NIV)
There will be no more night. (Revelation 22:5, NIV)
As the flowers here and now give their mute testimony to God, we will also, then, be always at the height of our praise.
As they stretch toward the skies, we will also extend ourselves, literally falling all over ourselves to do Him honor, singing “Holy, Holy, Holy” with the saints and elders—perpetually at the apex of worship.
Now, that’s living! Just the thought of it makes what we call “life” here, even at its fullest during the springtime, seem dead.
Life…and death…
…and finally eternal life.
Come, Lord Jesus.
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