Spring, The Time of New Beginnings

by Pastor Jeanne Miller

Spring is a beautiful time of the year. I think of cherry blossoms, daffodils, tulips, and leaves on trees. A couple of weeks ago I was outside our home with Jonathan, my grandson, and we were having a very deep discussion concerning the seasons of the year. He wanted to know when the leaves would be coming back to the trees and I was trying to explain that in Spring the new vegetation comes. In Summer, school is out and everything is in bloom. Then in Autumn those leaves that came in Spring fall off of the trees and in Winter everything looks dead but it really isn’t because then Spring comes and it starts all over again. Jonathan was having a little trouble looking at the trees in their “dead” state and understanding that shortly from those oh-so-bare limbs would come forth the green leaves that make the trees so beautiful (and that provide him shade while playing outside).

Our conversation started me thinking. While some people look at January as the start of a new year, I would rather look at Spring as the beginning of a new year. Everything in nature that looked so dead comes back to life. Even in the deadness of Winter, there always remains life within the vegetation. We can’t see it but by faith we believe it’s there and that we will see this life appear once again as the seasons change.

I think it is very appropriate that Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension occurred during the Spring. This is what brought to us a new beginning, a new birth, life out of deadness and light out of darkness.

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