Season of Singing

     Today was in the high 80's in Oregon and for April that is unusual. Coming from Arizona the past 20 years, I am loving the heat and so are the plants and flowers. The trees, in front of our house, burst out of buds into leaves within a day. The pollen from the trees was so thick it looked like a mist of water floating past our windows. 

    Song of Songs 2:12 explains spring like this, "Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land." I have talked to others who have expressed their depression has lifted a bit with the sunshine and warm weather. As I walk the dog, I breathe deeper when we pass brightly colored tulips swaying in the breeze and clusters of delicate white blossoms on the fruits trees. 

    Spring feels like God is lifting the heavy veil of wintery grey and cold so we can see the glory of His creations anew. As much as I'm enjoying the blossoms and sunny skies, the Bible reminds me that all this life on earth is temporary, God is the only eternal, "The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forevers" (Isaiah 40:8). 

    Sometimes in the middle of winter, it feels like spring will never arrive. Today, with all the darkness and gloomy news, even believers may wonder if Christ Jesus will return. In 2 Peter 3:4-6, we are reminded the people in Biblical times had the same concern, "They will say, 'Where is the 'coming' he promised? Ever since our ancestor died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.' But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water."

    God makes all things new again (Rev. 21:5). We can each be reborn like the bulbs popping up in spring. The old has passed away and we can be new creatures in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior, not because we earned it or deserve it, but because of God's immeasurable grace and mercy (2 Corinthians 5:17). Throw off the old coverings and dreary garb of your past life and sins, and put on your royal white robe that has been provided for you and for me by Christ's shed blood on the cross as a living sacrifice for the sins of the world (Ephesians 2:13). Now that is something to sing about!

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.