The Growing Season – SPRING!
On a new carpet of grass, perky robins hip-hop. Breezes ruffle the new leaves as they appear on tall, proud trees. The raindrops softly tiptoe through the sleeping rows of budding flowers. White clouds lazily float in the hammock of the sky. Crops in the fields spring to life to feed God’s children in His Time.
No one else could create the mystery and wonder of the season, called spring, but our Lord God! By believing and trusting our Savior Jesus Christ, a new kind of Spring grows within each heart with shimmering Grace.
Spring, the season of growth begins when we believe, are buried and raised in baptismal waters. Faith and trust stretch into a life of holiness and perfect beauty. We drink in His Living Water in the refreshing sweetness of His Word. We worship constantly as we breathe. Our Lord of Love, with gentleness, goodness, and kindness surrounds us. We praise Him with constant Faithfulness.
We grow in patience in moments of stress and misfortune. For we know a promise that brings the greatest joy, throughout our growing season. This growing season will bring us to a place that is heaven, a place of beauty and love. Heaven is where we can seek the utter beauty of our Lord and Savior, face to face.
Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things. Plant your seed in the morning and keep busy all afternoon, for you don’t know if profit will come from one activity or another—or maybe both. Ecclesiastes 11:5-6
Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. Ephesians 4:14-16
God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus. I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. Philippians 4:8-10
May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ gives you grace and peace. Dear brothers and sisters, we can’t help but thank God for you, because your faith is flourishing and your love for one another is growing. We proudly tell God’s other churches about your endurance and faithfulness in all the persecutions and hardships you are suffering. 2 Thessalonians 1:2-4
May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus, our Lord. By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. 2 Peter 1:2-4
New parents exult in each new inch of growth of their newborn baby. They rejoice in new learning. Our Lord God rejoices in us as we learn to follow God’s Way through Christ Jesus. We toddle along in faith in Him. We take baby steps before strides and sprints in loving others. It is baby steps in learning to trust God.
Each bruise and scrape along the way remind us of our Sovereign Lord’s forever kindness and goodness; He is the One who created us. Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice? Romans 11:33-34. Who is this Sovereign God? But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do. Psalm 73:28
To some, our body seems to grow old and our physical strength shrivels with weakness. While we are in the bloom of youth, such a thought is unthinkable. Our bones gradually weaken and our stamina grows shorter like the blossoms of flowers fade and the leaves of trees begin to fall. What then? What is left? Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. I Corinthians 13:13. The greatest of these is Love!
Our growing season in Christ Jesus is a lifetime of learning to follow Him in all things, revel in His love, and delight in His goodness. There are no senior citizens on earth when Jesus fills our hearts
Visiting my husband in Memory Care, we listen to this hymn – these words penetrate memory loss and he understands. Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee, How great Thou art, how great Thou art. Tears come as we talk about the blessings of our God. I ask what he will do when he stops breathing, he said, “I will say, Here I am, Lord, please let me in.” My husband may not remember me, but he remembers the Lord. We hold hands and praise God together and continue to grow, for this is part of our growing season. Our hearts are filled with the Joy of Heavenly Spring, just around the corner.
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