Strange Spring

a devotional for spring

Photo by Nikolay Zakharov on Unsplash

Thank you for joining us! Before we begin our devotional, I wanted to share a Comment Highlight from last week, but let’s do something a little different!

I want to direct you all to check out the comments on our Discussion Thread last week about the assumptions we make about God, because there was SO MUCH good stuff in there that I couldn’t pick one comment to highlight! Thank you to everyone who participated!

If you want to be featured in next week’s Comment Highlight, all you have to do is post a comment on any of this week’s posts or threads. That’s it!

Now, on with this week’s devotional…

---

sometimes spring is a fire
sweeping steadily
burning green

gaining momentum
as it builds
to summer fever;

but sometimes

spring is a held breath,
a child still clinging
to the hem
of her mother's winter coat, 

uncertain steps
cloud-covered eyes
and days of mud-puddle play;

the God of Summer
sleeping
waiting,
wrapped in the buds
of apple
and berry
and haw. 

For some of us, spring has been slow to arrive. Here in the maritime Northwest, the typical weather of March bled into April, and April tumbled over into May. Our evenings are still cold enough to make us turn to one another and ask, “Is it a woodstove night? Or shall we save the logs?”

And there is rain. So much rain. Puddles and torrents of it, clogging our gutters with the flying petals of the ornamental cherry tree and all the pollen the firs released two weeks ago. In the greenhouse, the seedlings shiver, awaiting the warmer soil to welcome their tender roots.

Elsewhere—or so I hear—the opposite is happening. Drought and unflinching sunshine bake the ground and cause the gardens to wither. A spring of heat, a spring of flame. Harsh and unforgiving.

But nevertheless, God is in each and every spring—mine and yours—doing what He does best: resurrecting. Bringing back to life. Glory following grace, life following death. Every year, every spring.

Where is He hiding, in your particular season? Where can He be found, in your region? What daily resurrections can you find, if you look?

---

Did this piece resonate with you? Take a moment to share it!

If you enjoy this piece, please let me know by tapping the heart to like, comment with your thoughts, share with someone you think will enjoy it, and subscribe to get instant access to my future work right to your inbox. Blessings!