SEASON'S GREETINGS!

Christmas, of course, is when the phrase “Season's Greetings” penetrates our culture. I know what people are trying to say, like: “The weather outside is awful, but all those gifts under the tree make things awesome.” So what sort of greetings are appropriate for spring? Please, not “the Easter bunny's comin' tonight.” For me, spring's first smiles are the warm days and earth awakening. The first crocus. Puttin' away the snow boots. Pruning the roses. Looking upward, to the blue sky, and thinking, Oh, God, all this You created. I cannot imagine Your smile as Your plan of beauty emerged.

To borrow from King Solomon and his famous “love ode”:

See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone,

Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come. (Song of Solomon 2:11)

Yes, I know, he wasn't giving a weather report for the six o'clock news. Instead, his hormones were bubbling for a certain young lady whose love he craved. But maybe there's a lesson here beneath his poetry.

This winter, two friends lost their husbands. I've been down that lonely road, and while I can offer hugs and words of care, it's a journey we must take in our own way, leaning heavily into Jesus. “Lover of My Soul.”

If that last phrase stirred up some old memories of a hymn, you're right. It goes back to about 1740 when Charles Wesley penned those words shortly after accepting Jesus as His Lord and Savior. Its verses tell of seeking courage and comfort in Jesus when trials come. When the winter of hard times fades. When we can begin to see what God can do with our sorrows and disappointments. Stop for a minute and reflect or sing along about “Jesus, Lover of My Soul”: Bing Videos

The crocus blossom that faithfully pops up every spring by my front sidewalk reminds me of that. When we put away our snow boots and Christmas carols, we didn't put away all our reasons to sing and praise God. This is Easter month! Even as we can rejoice in flowers re-emerging, we can be astounded again by the beauty of this truth: He is risen, just as He said. And just as the angel triumphantly announced to the women who came to anoint a decaying body, and were shocked by the most amazing news ever.

Surely, “the season of singing has come” and we don't need to wait for “Easter Sunday” to proclaim that: Christ the Lord has risen today...Alleluia

Join these singers on You Tube: Bing Videos

Fifty shades of yellow

 

Unseasonably warm days have brought early spring to my area.  I haven’t shoveled snow in weeks, and crocus blossoms have popped at a sunny spot in my son’s yard. Those happy little blooms always remind me of this portion of Song of Solomon:
See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone.
Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come. (Song of Solomon 2:11)
Especially for those who live in climates where gray winter days drag on, it’s a happy day when flowers appear again.
 

Okay, I know that “Song of Solomon” can be read at several levels, one being a sensual poem between a man and his betrothed. But rather than the reported raunchy stuff of a current “gray”-named  film (which I have not seen nor plan to see), this is the pure marital love of God’s original plan for men and women,  all the way back to Adam and Eve. On another level, this verse reminds us that temptations and hardships (“the winter”) aren’t forever. As 1 Corinthians 10:13 points out:

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.  And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
God knows how much “winter” we can endure spiritually. Renewal and hope—like fifty shades of early spring flowers--can come as we walk in trust and obedience to God.

Our early spring has reminded me of another recent film, about winter, which has spawned more than its share of child-focused merchandise. This cartoon took liberties with a fairy tale about a young queen cursed with turning everything she touched into frozen deadness.  She decides to abandon her kingdom and go as far away as possible to the ultimate frozen land.  With her long white tresses, oversized eyes, and Barbie-doll figure, she seems to have everything “right.” But she reminds me of spoiled little kids who stomp off to their rooms when life doesn’t go their way, slamming the door behind them.  The real heroine of the film was her boy-crazy sister, who broke the “ice curse” with an act of sacrificial love. Yet the “ice queen” and her sister were both flawed beings and not true to real life. Real life is this:

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.(Romans 5:8)
Our “sin” state left us stuck in a spiritual winter. But Jesus’ sacrificial death for our sins made it possible for us to have new spiritual life. 

Let those crocuses push through the mat of dead leaves!  In all their buttery glory, they’re the advance scouts for spring’s most magnificent event: Easter.