Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
If winter is a time of dormancy and waiting, not seeing and not knowing, things dying so they can emerge again in the spring—our winter has been a long, long year of waiting. Finally, spring seems to have arrived. All around me I see tiny green leaves, delicate flowers budding, sunshine that warms my face if I turn toward it for a while.
As more and more of us have the vaccine now, we seem more hopeful; we see light up ahead and it is not just the headlights of an oncoming train! People are coming back to church, grandparents are cautiously heading out to see (and hug) their grandchildren. We are making plans, putting things on the calendar, celebrating milestones.
It is a new day when two or three of us gather together and ask each other, “Are you fully vaccinated?” And when the answer is affirmative we take down our masks and see—smiles. I remember smiles—smiles that turn the corners of our mouths upwards and not just those questionable crinkles at the corners of our eyes.
This long winter has changed us. I still have a sort of out-of-body experience when I go to the grocery store and see all the masked faces and wonder how we got here. We now know that the unthinkable can happen in the blink of an eye and change everything. We have discovered that it is best not to take things or people for granted! We have been reminded to seize the day and live life to its fullest.
Right after Hurricane Sally made her appearance, I shared in one of my devotionals that I had a couple of buds on some old azalea bushes at the back of my yard that have never bloomed since I have lived here, almost 10 years. This spring, they are in full bloom. Sally blew away some small limbs and allowed sunlight access to a place that had been hidden for quite a while.
The previous owner of my house lived here for 65 years and I imagine planted those azaleas and enjoyed them over many years. And now they have reemerged in all their glory, anchoring the back corner of my yard in beauty as they were intended to do. Their presence reminds me that no experience is wasted in God’s economy.
We will never be quite the same again, but we will embrace things that are good and familiar back into our lives. I believe those days will come sooner than later. I am an optimist and always tend to be curious about what surprising and joyous new thing is just around each corner.
God made us to be resilient! I see this in my friends at Fairhope UMC. Thank you for staying hopeful, for waiting patiently, for encouraging church staff and leaders as we felt our way along in the dark. And thank you for showing up again! I have been hopeful and optimistic you would and watching the door with great curiosity and anticipation! I think spring is finally here.
Oh God, this long winter has often been frustrating and we thought, at times, it might never end. Thank you for the beautiful signs of life emerging all around us. May we be made new and may no experience in our lives fail to cause us to grow and change. Keep us ever, always on the path that leads to you. In Christ we pray, AMEN.
Blessed Love,
Laura
