It’s the middle of March, have you paused to reflect on the new life that is just beginning to bud around you?
It’s not quite Spring yet, but the first hints of it have appeared. The smell in the air has changed. Trees that, just a few weeks ago, were barren and dead, are not showing new life. The world around us is experiencing a kind of resurrection, and while it is not nearly as remarkable as the final, true, Resurrection Day, will be, it’s a nice-enough teaser to whet our appetites and get us thinking about what’s to come…
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
(1 Corinthians 15:51-54)
Trees around us are beginning to turn green again. The grass beneath our feet is turning soft again. Flowers that disappeared months ago are sprouting again. Life is returning again, and then what? In about four months they’ll start to weaken again. A few months after that, it’ll be dry, cold, barren, and dead again. The cycle will continue, and it will keep on continuing until the last day. What happens then? Then the cycle ends. Then the godly life that ended over the years will rise to live again, never to die again, but to live with the Maker of life forevermore.
Go outside and smell the roses if you can find them (I actually have no idea when they blossom). Let them be a reminder that the God who made life has the power to bring it back again, and will one sweet day.
~Matthew