It seems to me people don’t really like spring. I think they like the idea of spring but they don’t like the reality of it. If it’s a sunny and warm spring day people will complain and say, “Don’t get used to it! It’s going to get cold again soon!” If it’s a cold and snowy spring day they complain and say, “I thought it was spring! What happened to the warm weather we were supposed to have!?!?!”
Don’t act like you’ve never done it before. I’ve seen your Facebook posts!
Spring really isn’t like any of the other season. By the time the first day of summer rolls around on June 21 we’ve already had plenty of hot weather. Before the first day of fall the leaves have already started changing and the crops are already being harvested. And by the time the winter solstice is here you’ve probably already scraped your share of windshields. Spring isn’t like any of those seasons. I’m not even sure it is a season. I think spring is a promise.
It’s the promise that things will get better. There are few things I love more than that first warm spring day. You know it when you feel the sun on you, you can smell it, and you can hear it at night with the kids and the peeper frogs both taking advantage of the warm evening. But just as surely as we will have that first warm spring day, we’ll also end up with a frost or two—maybe even a little snow. It’s not about the season being here, it’s about what it promises will come.
It’s the promise of new life. There’s that day when the wind stops blowing and you look up and notice the leaves are budding on the trees. There is that moment when you realize that the dogwoods are flowering (and sometimes smelling horrible). It doesn’t start the first day of spring and it doesn’t mean we’re not going to get another frost, but again it’s the promise that one day–one day soon–new life will come bursting out of the ground.
What is spring if not a promise?
Paul doesn’t deny the hardships of the lingering winter of this world. Rather he holds to the truth that a promise has been made–and sealed with blood. And he calls us to, “encourage one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:17) And to “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of The Lord, knowing that in The Lord your labor is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58).
Spring is here! Christ is risen indeed!
