I enjoy new beginnings. Stepping forward into 2016 exercises faith—in a continuing world, a loving God, a life of surprises.
This week a tiny green spear pushed up through the soil, having endured the recent ice storm, defied the torrent rain, and ignored the lack of sun. Promise pulsed from that little shoot, a pledge that flowers were waking beneath the soil, stretching their limbs and preparing to thrust their slender bodies toward a spring sky. I imagined their yawns as they primed themselves to grow.
All around me I heard the twitter of birds, small, excited warbles as they searched through the lilac bush for moss. The little beings drank greedily from the fountain, their excited chatter evidence they didn’t miss the ice sculpture that encased the waterfall the week before. Water splashed merrily from the bowl, the burbling sound like uncontrolled laughter. The new year had arrived and all of nature seemed to welcome it.
In our culture, worry seems to come with the freedoms we enjoy. Did we overdo at Christmas? Will we stay safe? Will the drought nudge food prices higher?
In the Bible, scripture teaches us in Matthew 6:25-27: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them . Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
Won’t you welcome 2016 with me, praising God we get to start another year? Anticipate God’s blessings and accept His gifts remembering that no matter what goes on around us, He has everything in control.
Even when winter displays its particular characteristics of dormant and barren landscapes, new green shoots almost simultaneously appears and encourages us.
My New Year started with a dented fender, but cars are just stuff, right? My God will always be my loving God no matter life’s circumstances or the season.
Sorry about your dented fender. Let the season’s sprouts renew you. Stay safe!
What a nice message.
I was checking out my helebores this morning, blooms covering the still-small plants that have poked through the leaf mulch. Spring is coming!
God takes us through the seasons, each with a purpose and each with its own joys and sorrows.
We who live in Oregon cannot complain about the gorgeous winter we’ve had. We received much needed rain, but spurts of sunshine were mixed in, keeping us hopeful. Enjoy your spring.