Finally… It’s Here:

Finally, it’s here: spring.

Bright, brisk, sunny, warm, dry, and refreshing spring.

Lord, I thought it would never get here.

This is my favorite time of the year—spring going into early summer.

I love it. Thank you, Lord.

You know, God, that Daily Savings Time is probably my most favorite day of the year besides maybe Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Fourth of July. And maybe a day at a baseball game or at the beach!

The days are getting noticeably longer. The mornings are starting earlier. The evenings are getting just a tad longer every day. I relish the cool spring evenings, if all I do is run from the building to my car.

It’s glorious to see Your artwork every morning, Dad, when You show off Your latest sunrise as I’m leaving for work. What an amazing creator You are—custom crafting a new sunrise every morning in every part of the world for us humans to appreciate. I sure do.

You said in Genesis 8:22 that the seasons will never cease, and I appreciate that. I like seasons.

I remember when I was a kid, we lived in different places where we actually had the traditional four seasons.

I remember anticipating summer vacation and, though I liked school, I was antsy to get out of school for the summer. I enjoyed hanging out with my friends and going places like swimming and sometimes doing things with my family like fishing and Sunday drives.

I remember looking forward to being back in school, because it was a source of socialization for me. Sometimes my family was not too much fun. I liked Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and I loved winter, mostly because I didn’t have to drive in the snow yet.

I loved walking in the snow.  Looking up and watching the snow fall from the sky was delightfully mesmerizing. It was the original screen saver!

I loved the sound of the snow crunching under my boots. I loved catching snow on my nose and tongue. Every time the dogs had to go outside, I laughed to watch their antics because the snow was often taller than them as they leaped from spot to spot. I loved making snowballs and snowmen and snow ice cream. Yes, snow was safe to eat back then, before pollution affected so much of our climate and environment.

One night the snow blanketed everything with quiet, and the silence was soft, cozy, and comforting. I walked home those two blocks from my friend’s house very slowly that night.

The transition from Christmas to the new year was negligible. The only way I knew spring was really here to stay was the weather started getting warmer, the sun started getting brighter, and the snow started melting and stayed gone.

Each season had its own beauty and timing, and somehow they each comforted me in turn.

In So Cal, the only seasons we really experience are green and brown, warm and hot.

I shouldn’t whine and sigh. Many places in the United States have had a more severe winter than the unusually wet one we had in California. Floods, blizzards, tornadoes, hailstorms, and hurricanes all sound terrible to me. They sound much more dangerous and regular than the occasional earthquakes we experience here. But we do all get seasons—seasons on our planet and seasons in our lives.

Finally… It’s here: Your faithfulness. I’ve lived long enough to see it now through many seasons of my life, up close and personal.

Seasons remind me of Your faithfulness, Your promises from long ago that You continue to keep. They remind me of how wise and creative and intelligent You are, and how much You love beauty.

Nothing ever stays, whether good or bad, because there is a season for everything under the sun.

Even during tragedies, Your faithfulness is evident. Many who weren’t killed during the invasion of 9/11 have testified to Your providence and protection. Many of Your children who have trusted in You have pressed on past their pain, losses, and sorrows to continue trusting You through those horrific floods, blizzards, tornadoes, hailstorms, and hurricanes. They are the continuation of Hebrews chapter 11, and I honor them for that. I can’t wait to meet every single person and hear each testimony when we all get to heaven.

I’ve had my share of horrific happenings. And I walk rank and file with these Your followers, Your cloud of witnesses from ancient days till today.

Your faithfulness comforts me as I think of the regularity of the seasons.

Thank You, Lord, for Your faithfulness to us.

Thank You, Lord, for Your faithfulness to me.