Some people compare the seasons in nature to four seasons of a life. When you’re very young, it’s the spring of your life; when you are old it’s the winter; and summer and fall are in between. Instead, I like to think we go through many seasonal cycles in life – not just one. And right now I think I’m in an early spring...
This realization came this afternoon when I was out on the front deck, drinking in the sun’s warmth and vitamin D. It’s an unbelievably balmy Wisconsin day today – 80 degrees Fahrenheit – and spring doesn’t officially begin until Tuesday! As I leaned my head on the back of the wicker chair and looked up at the sky through the branches of the yard's lone maple tree, I noticed something: the tree looked ugly.
Okay, so maybe trees don’t have emotions, but if this tree did, I think it would be feeling sad right now, at least concerning how it looked. Its branches don’t show any signs of green. Rather, they are an ugly gray-brown color. And at the ends of the twigs that shoot out from the branches, are roundish, thorny-looking, dark gray, berry-shaped blobs – that are far from pretty, or handsome. They aren’t even the slightest bit cute. So it’s difficult to believe that beautiful green leaves will one day soon emerge from them. Except I know it’s true because I have seen it happen year after year...
Today I wanted to say to the tree, “Hang on there old maple. In a few weeks you’re going to be looking quite lovely. You know those ugly, itchy, prickly things that are annoying your twigs right now? Well, hidden inside are lovely green leaves. You’re going to be beautiful!”
I then noticed the state of the rest of my surroundings... The grass isn’t pretty right now, either. It’s still clumped down from winter’s snows, and is wearing a sprinkling of dead leaves – ugly remnants of autumn’s long-past glory. The trees in other yards are all looking gray-brown and lifeless, too. There are no beautiful flowers in planters, and the human houses and streets look neglected from winter’s cold, dark, season. Yet, it’s next to impossible to miss the incredible hope that is in the air right now. I was anything but depressed as I soaked in the sunshine and let the warm breezes whisk my cares away.
Personally, I’m identifying with the ugly parts of spring. I’m not seeing any green growth in my life today. There’s no visible, lush, shade-providing, inspiring evidence of what’s flowing through my veins. There are no apparent signs that the ugly blobs of whatever is trying to ooze from God’s work inside of me is about to emerge green and beautiful. I do hope and trust this will happen - with all of my heart...but not because I’m making something beautiful. (I can’t even control results from my very best intentions!) I can trust this only because He is making something beautiful. His glory must burst forth. The ugly tree will soon be gloriously green.
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