It’s subtle at first. The darkness of winter has hovered for so long that the sun seems like a stranger, perhaps even an enemy. Your eyes have adjusted to life in the gray tones of shadows and they don’t know how to respond to the brightness that is now overtaking your soul.
Could it be true?
The sun rips through the clouds and pours life on the earth below. The weather-beaten ground begins to thaw and you remember for the first time what it means to feel. And it hurts at first. In order for new life to grow, something has to die.
And then it happens.
Without any indication, without any warning new life begins to sprout. It’s small at first. Easily missed, easily trampled, easily crushed. But it is there. And the fact that it is there means that the long hard winter is finally nearing its end.
The winter is ending. Springtime is near. It’s a precarious place to be in. It almost seems like an illusion because winter still threatens to crush the life that is beginning to grow. It’s hard to believe anything could grow from the frozen ground of your soul.
But it is He who brings life to the dead and dying. It is He who makes streams in the wasteland and a way in the desert. It is He who brings the springtime green of new life. And because of that there is hope for this storm-beaten soul.
Our God is a God of new life. Our God is a God of hope. I know that as I watch trees begin to bud and flourish. I know that as fields turn from gray to green overnight. I know that as I watch my garden come back to life with the warmth of the sun and the nutrients of the rain. And even though winter still seems to linger, it will not win. Even in the unexpected springtime snow, life is still sprouting from the ground. Before you know it the world is full of lush, rich colors that the winter had blocked from your memory. Before you know it, life and hope are surrounding you and the deadness of winter now seems like far-off nightmare. Before you know it, the seedling of hope that began to sprout at the changing of the seasons is so deeply rooted that nothing could crush it. It’s the kind of hope that grows wildly and flourishes beyond control. Nothing can crush it. It’s the kind of hope and life and freedom that invades your soul to the very depths.
It’s been a long winter. But springtime is here. And life is growing.
He promises that our souls will be like a well-watered garden.
Winter never wins. Because of that, we have reason to hope.