Hope LIVES!

It's been a tough couple of weeks. I've been struggling with some deep issues and, quite frankly, they've been kicking my you-know-what. God's sense of irony is so...ironic. I mean, here are the lyrics to a trio I sang in church a week ago or so:

"How long has it been since you woke with the dawn and felt that the day's worth the living..."

Ummm...too long.

The weather lately hasn't helped. Loads of rain. Overcast skies. Gray, gray, gray. Perfect for my mood of late.

Then, this morning, I walked outside while on a phone call to a dear friend whose mother recently died. I was deep in thought, listening to her, thrown back to my own mom's death by my friend's words and pain, when I glanced down--and was met with this sight...



................................................................................and this one...

and this...

Suddenly, it was as though scales fell from my eyes and heart, and delight swept through me. My crocuses are here! Not just here, but blooming!! I looked up, and realized the sky was as clear as a child's smile and blue, blue, blue. And the sun was shining, sending warmth cascading down onto my upturned face.

Spring has come. Oh! Spring has come again! Just when I thought the gray skies wouldn't go away, when I let my heart grow so heavy with all the "stuff" I've been agonizing over, when I was so sure I'd never feel light again, spring snuck in, spread it's arms, and blessed the day with color and fragrance and warmth.

That's just like God. We get all caught up in whatever is dragging us down, tangled in the cords of sorrow or discontent or fear until we're sure we'll drown--and then suddenly realize Someone has reached out and taken hold of us. Not just that, but He's lifting us from the frigid, suffocating depths and setting our feet on the rock-solid ground of His love, peace, and provision.

The struggles aren't over. I know that. But today, for this moment, I'm smiling. Because those little flowers, poking their heads out of what yesterday was cold, dead earth, remind me it's never as bleak as it seems. God is always there, working just beneath the surface, bringing about growth and restoration and rebirth.

May your day be filled with God's surprises...


Karen