April 2022

“The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing.”

– Isaiah 35:1-2

This year, it feels like spring is taking forever to get here. A warm day comes and fills me with hope, and the next it’s freezing cold. It can start to feel like it will never come.

But every year, without fail, the birds start to sing, the trees start to blossom, and the grass turns green again.

It seems fitting that Easter falls each year at the beginning of spring. As if it is God’s eternal reminder to us that new life always comes after death. That, just like Jesus was buried in the tomb for 3 days before rising again, new seeds will birth forth blossoms after a long winter in the ground.

It is easy (for me, at least) to get impatient with winter (and with God). I want the warmer (better) days to be here now. But this year, my practice for Lent is to slow down. To notice how the grass slowly turns from brown to green. To stop and look at the small buds forming on the magnolia tree we planted last year. To find joy in the sound of the birds singing as they make nests in the bushes outside the window. While it may not be warm yet, these are signs of things to come.

Perhaps, as you look around you, you can slow down, too, and notice these small ways that God reminds us of the promise of resurrection. New life will come. It is breaking forth all around us. Turns out, we can’t always fast forward to the good part. But maybe, if we slow down and look close enough, we will see: the good part is already here.

With love,

Pastor Kelsey