Every year around February, I start to get excited about springtime. I look forward to the holiday season all year, but something about the long month of January just puts me in the mood for spring. I look forward to the warmer temperatures, planting new flowers in my garden, and just enjoying the beauty of God’s creation as it begins to bloom.
It makes me wonder what it must have been like at the beginning of creation. God intricately painted the world around us with the colors of His choosing. He could have just as easily made everything the same color, but He didn’t. He even went one step further and created us to delight in and appreciate all of the different colors. I believe this to be why so many of the paintings hanging in museums around the world feature landscapes and nature.
Throughout creation, we see glimpses of God’s majesty and His attention to the details. I see His glory and majesty in sunsets just as I see His precision in the anatomy of the human eye that allows me to enjoy those sunsets. Everything works together perfectly to point us to Him and to remind us of his sovereignty over our lives. Just when I begin to think that I deserve some of the credit for various aspects of my life, God reminds me that every good thing is from Him.
We serve a God who is intimately involved in our lives, just as He is involved in every aspect of the world around us. He trims away our dead branches to make way for new growth. He nourishes us with His word. And He tends our hearts to be more like Him. John 15:2 says, “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”
The Christian life is full of change and growth, which allows us to adapt to each new season. The long winter months remind us that springtime is right around the corner; we just have to be patient in the waiting. Growth can be challenging, but God promises to be with us through all of it.
“Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” – Psalm 37:4
