Spring Fling
by Linda Fode
I live in Calgary, a large city at the base of the Rocky Mountains. We have the most days of sunshine and the shortest growing season of any place in Canada. Spring is the most unpredictable of seasons in both its arrival and its departure. We experienced our last snow May 18. The trees have budded and are transitioning rapidly to the darker greens of summer. Spring this year is about two weeks in duration. If you blink twice you could miss it!
The Bible has much to say about the seasons in our life. The passage for today exhorts us to arise and embrace the seasons of spring, of freshness, of new life. The natural always demonstrates the spiritual. So it is with spring.
Spring cleaning takes place. The dry, dead branches are pruned back. Any rubble from last season is removed. Protective mulch is gently removed from perennials allowing the new shoots to emerge from the earth. Suckers, rebel branches, are cut away. Blossoms unique in form and fragrance appear on each type of tree.
What are blossoms if not promises? A springtime reflection of the harvest to come. Promises do three things. They stir up confidence that God will do what He has promised. They set us at rest, knowing He will accomplish what He has promised so we need not strive in our own strength. They free us to walk in a simple relationship of trust and obedience.
Spring comes every year, even if short or delayed. Reflect on past springs. Reflect on the blossoms, the spring seasons in your life that have produced wonderful harvest.
The bridegroom (our Lord Jesus) says: “Let us go early to the vineyards to see if the vines have budded, if their blossoms have opened and if the pomegranates are in bloom; there I will give you my love. (Song of Songs 7:10-12)
Take time today to rejoice in spring. Don’t miss it! Breathe in the fragrance of the blossoms He sees in your life. See yourself from His perspective. Rise up, beloved, rise up. Celebrate, have a party, maybe even dance a bit. Don’t miss spring this year!
Prayer: Father, I ask your forgiveness for all the ways I’ve seen my life as colorless and dull, without purpose or fruit. I repent of joylessness. Teach me to pay attention, to sing and to see and to embrace new life. Father, fill me with Your joy that I may touch the world with your promise of life and love. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Linda Fode and her husband Allen were the founding directors of Ellel Ministries Canada West. They stepped down from that position in October 2012. Linda’s passion is to mentor people in their relationship with the Father and to release them into their destiny in God.
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