A Prayer of Hope As We Enter Into Spring

So, spring arrived over the weekend.  I think officially it came early on Saturday morning thought we usually put the seasonal change on the 21^st of March.  However we count it, winter is passed and spring has come.  Yeah!!

Locally we are beginning to see some buds and blossoms on the trees.  Early days yet for those magnificent moments of going by a street and having your breath taken away by the huge pink and white blossoming trees as far as the eye can see. 

Of all the four seasons of the year, spring seems to describe our new life in God the best.  The temperatures warm up.  We hear birds begin to sing again.  There are more hours of daylight.  New flowers bloom.  The bears come out of hibernation and we feel a desire to get outside and enjoy the freshness and hope of the season.

This year, after long periods in the darkness of the pandemic it is refreshing to see the light of hope glimmer and allow our hearts to welcome the soon return of more normal activities and cycles of events.  Yes, we still have the worry of the uptick of cases with these variants and we still may have a third wave of the disease that is heartbreaking for many but, with vaccines things have changed.  This is a new season.

I wonder if Jesus wasn’t seeing spring and new freshness around Him when He said these words:

Look at the birds: they do not plant seeds, gather a harvest and put it in barns; yet your Father in heaven takes care of them! Aren't you worth much more than birds? And why worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow: they do not work or make clothes for themselves. Matthew 6:26, 28

Along with hope and growth in a new season, we often also worry about the vulnerability we feel and the uncertainty about our future.  God knows how frail we are inside and He encourages us to stay simple, stay focused on Him, and just do the work He’s called us to do.  He promises He will take care of all the rest.  Just like a farmer prepares the fields, puts seed in the ground, and leaves the seed to grow in the soil, so we can trust that if we ground ourselves in God’s will, He will take care of the growth that we can look forward to. 

But more than anything else, put God’s work first and do what he wants. Then the other things will be yours as well.  Don’t worry about tomorrow. It will take care of itself. You have enough to worry about today.  Matthew 6:33-34

Heavenly Father, we are thankful for the beauty of this new season.  We’re grateful for more hours of sunlight, for new and fresh things we see growing around us.  Thank You for Your faithfulness to us through the long winter months, particularly this past year in the heaviness and darkness of the pandemic.  When our burdens grow greater You give us more of Yourself, more blessings, more strength, more grace to persevere and learn and grow.

Just like little flower bulbs in the ground for so many cold winter months are now growing and displaying beautiful blossoms, so we want to allow You to work in us so that the life of God can be displayed for others to see at just the right time and in the right way, and they then be drawn to Your goodness. 

Help us to remain simple and true to the people You’ve made us, doing the things that You give us to do each day.  We can’t hold off the season nor hurry it along without doing damage to what You have in mind. 

Help me to let go of worry about the future.  W trust You to make all things right as we surrender to Your will so that we will be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with You in the next. Amen