New Beginnings

Spring is a season of renewal. The days brighten. The sunshine lingers. All that is brown and sludgy slowly becomes green and lush. And in the middle of it all is our annual remembrance of the empty tomb that points us toward an overflowing future.
Easter always points us forward. On the first Easter morning Jesus’ initial message to Mary was for her to tell his brothers that he was going to go to their Father and their God. Several days later he would tell them that after he goes to the Father he will come back again. But no one knows when, except for the Father, and because it has been a while and there is no way of telling when it will happen we often become impatient—even forgetful—about his promise.
This spring let the renewal happening all around you rekindle the flame in your heart that longs for God’s kingdom. Paul talks about planting and harvesting when he describes how our resurrected bodies in God’s kingdom will compare to our earthly bodies now. When you pickup a seed it may not look like much, and you would certainly never guess what it is capable of producing come harvest time. Likewise, think about what God has promised to spring from this universe and yourself in it. No more pain. No more death. No more isolation. No more addiction.
In John’s vision of the New Jerusalem a renewed Tree of Life stands over a river that flows from God’s throne. It produces twelve kinds of fruit each month and its leaves heal the nations. What a mighty symbol of the kingdom! Let the renewal this season point you toward the future renewal of all things in which there will be no more winter. And that is very good news this time of year to those of us on the northern plains of the Dakotas! I am sure it is good to news to everyone else—news well worth sharing.