Signs of Spring

Yesterday the warm, cheery sunshine beckoned me outside. I carefully studied my little garden plot, and look what I found!

The irises already peek from the bed

I found an occasional leaf poking through from the tangled reeds from last year's plant.

Running to the garage, I came back with a trimmer. I clipped and piled up some of the old, dead flower stalks and piled them to the side. As I did so, the sweet fragrance of the dead, dried bee-balm stalks filled the air like a lovely perfume. Underneath the remains of its dried stalks I could see a few little leaves of new, fresh bee-balm plants beginning to poke up from the ground. How amazing think of the many concepts this season illustrates. The concept of old becoming new, death birthing life, and the dead becoming alive (such as Jesus' resurrection celebrated on Easter).

Death.

Life!

In reality, I would not consider myself an avid gardener. I just like to stand back and watch things grow! Perennials give me the most joy since they faithfully come back year after year. Every spring I burst with excitement upon noticing their little heads shoot up from the soil beneath. Despite the cold, harsh winters of the north, they endure the snow and sleet while firmly rooted in the ground, ready and preparing to spring up and flourish when the time is right.

Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.

~Colossians 2:6-7

Let's cling to Him and keep our roots embedded in the nutrients He offers so we can be ready to flourish in the seasons ahead.