Today was a beautiful, blue-skyed, sunny Saturday – the kind of day where you finally believe winter is over and spring has planted her little feet deep in the earth, just ready to make things come alive with color and sneeze-inducing blooms. Today was also the annual trek to Costco, Lowes and Home Depot, looking for plants and flowers to bring some of that spring aliveness to our very barren yard and patio.

We ended up with a beautiful pink and white hydrangea for the front porch, some climbing, red diplandenia, impatiens, heather lavender, lots of small bedding plants, a $5.00 hanging basket of slightly sickly petunias that was on the plant hospital rack and an embarrassing amount of purple African daisies, mostly because we bought a three-pack at Costco, and then more at another store because we somehow forgot we bought the same thing only an hour and a half earlier!

I really love flowers – they just make me happy, whether cut or planted. There’s something about having living things around that makes me feel a little more alive myself. And today I definitely wasn’t alone in the quest for all those purple daisies! The nursery aisles were packed full of people with carts of plants and flowers of all kinds. It was fun to overhear all the different conversations as I slowly took in all the planting possibilities. The air just seemed alive with anticipation of “new” – new plants, new weather, new landscaping to replace the old, new flowers to try and new pots to hold them. As we entered Home Depot, we actually had to wait just a moment for the stream of people coming out of the plant section before we could make our way in. So many people getting ready for spring!

Lent is this special season of time when we reflect on our relationship with Jesus and remember his life and sacrifice. And it’s also a time of preparation for the celebration of Easter, the day when something “new” truly did happen. I don’t think Easter was just a one-time event. I think each time I find healing or growth and realize God is at work in my life, that’s a little bit of Easter. Dead things are resurrected in God’s time in all of our lives, and it’s all because of the power that raised Jesus from the dead. Because of Him, we really do have new life.

As I walked into the crowded section of that nursery this morning, it hit me. Everyone there was preparing for spring by planting gardens and replacing dead flowers with fresh, living ones. We’re willing to do the work that it will take – sometimes hard work – in order to enjoy the beauty it will bring. What if we anticipated Easter with the same type of energy and joy? What if we were willing to put in the hard work of repentance, forgiveness, service and even just kindness as an act of preparation for the day we celebrate the resurrection that changed everything? What if we were to seek holiness with the same passion we seek purple African daisies?

I think we’re doing some of that here each day, and I know sometimes it’s hard work to listen for the spirit’s voice and examine our own hearts. It means we then need to deal with what we find – to expose the weary, barren spots and allow the truth of God to breathe new beauty and life into those places. But the good news is, He’s the master gardener! He does spring really, really well and has a way of creating beauty in the most barren of hearts.

Growing with you,

Shellie ♥

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“Spring Is Coming”
Steven Curtis Chapman

We planted the seed while the tears of our grief soaked the ground
The sky lost its sun, and the world lost its green to lifeless brown
Now the chilling wind has turned the earth hard as stone
And silently seed rise beneath ice and snow

And my heart’s heavy now
But I’m not letting go of this hope I have that tells me

Spring is coming, Spring is coming
And all we’ve been hoping and longing for soon will appear
Spring is coming, Spring is coming
It won’t be long now, it’s just about here

Hear the birds start to sing
Feel the life in the breeze
Watch the ice melt away
The kids are coming out to play

Feel the sun on your skin
Growing strong and warm again
Watch the ground: there’s something moving
Something is breaking through
New life is breaking through

Spring is coming, Spring is coming
And all we’ve been hoping and longing for soon will appear
Spring is coming, Spring is coming
And it won’t be long now, it’s just about here

Spring is coming, Spring is coming
(Out of these ashes, beauty will rise)
And all we’ve been hoping and longing for soon will appear
(Sorrow will be turned to joy)
Spring is coming, Spring is coming
(All we hoped for soon will appear)
It won’t be long now, it’s just about here
(Out of the dark clouds, beauty will shine)
(All above in heaven, rejoice)
(Spring is coming soon)
(Spring is coming soon)