Spring
"Spring is not a season!” Timmy
announced from the back seat of our car. “Why?” I asked him. He
thought that there were really only two seasons: Winter and Summer.
I tried to explain to him that Spring was the season of transition
between Winter to Summer and that there were things that it had
things that were particular to it... crocuses for example.
Well, my explanation didn't seem to impact him as a week or two later, he made the same announcement. Now, it is interesting to note that he said this back when the calendar said “Spring” but there was still plenty of snow on the ground and here we are a few weeks later with the snow melting almost overnight and temperatures in the 20's. How am I to convince him now? I'm encouraging him to look at the trees which are just starting to bud. They have to go through the growth of Spring before they are ready for the fruitfulness of summer.
Timmy's pronouncement got me thinking about the need for “spring-like” seasons in our spiritual life. It is possible to be in a “winter-like” season where things are darker, there seems to be no fruit, and the only thing you know to do is to wait. Then, the warm breeze of the Holy Spirit blows and we feel very alive spiritually. We get excited about what God is going to do and eagerly expect spiritual fruit. But sometimes it doesn't come as quickly as we want and we may get discouraged.
That's when I think we need to remind ourselves that a lot of growth has to happen in Spring before the fruit-bearing of Summer. We need to faithfully continue to seek God, trust Him, and obey Him without giving up because we don't see the results we hoped for. We need to let the Holy Spirit reveal to us the areas of our hearts/our lives that He is working on: tiling the soil of heart, planting the Word of God, even pruning parts of our lives that make us less fruitful. We need to keep nourishing our spirits and nurturing our relationships with the Lord through pray, Bible reading, and worship. And then we still may have to wait to “yield ...fruit in season” (Psalm 1:3).
Whatever “season” you may be experiencing in your life in God, I hope that this will encourage you to keep going and not to give up. As Paul reminds us in Galatians 6:9: “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (ESV).
Well, my explanation didn't seem to impact him as a week or two later, he made the same announcement. Now, it is interesting to note that he said this back when the calendar said “Spring” but there was still plenty of snow on the ground and here we are a few weeks later with the snow melting almost overnight and temperatures in the 20's. How am I to convince him now? I'm encouraging him to look at the trees which are just starting to bud. They have to go through the growth of Spring before they are ready for the fruitfulness of summer.
Timmy's pronouncement got me thinking about the need for “spring-like” seasons in our spiritual life. It is possible to be in a “winter-like” season where things are darker, there seems to be no fruit, and the only thing you know to do is to wait. Then, the warm breeze of the Holy Spirit blows and we feel very alive spiritually. We get excited about what God is going to do and eagerly expect spiritual fruit. But sometimes it doesn't come as quickly as we want and we may get discouraged.
That's when I think we need to remind ourselves that a lot of growth has to happen in Spring before the fruit-bearing of Summer. We need to faithfully continue to seek God, trust Him, and obey Him without giving up because we don't see the results we hoped for. We need to let the Holy Spirit reveal to us the areas of our hearts/our lives that He is working on: tiling the soil of heart, planting the Word of God, even pruning parts of our lives that make us less fruitful. We need to keep nourishing our spirits and nurturing our relationships with the Lord through pray, Bible reading, and worship. And then we still may have to wait to “yield ...fruit in season” (Psalm 1:3).
Whatever “season” you may be experiencing in your life in God, I hope that this will encourage you to keep going and not to give up. As Paul reminds us in Galatians 6:9: “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (ESV).
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