March 23, 2010
 
DEVOTION: Spring Green
 
By Beth Bondurant
 
This fifth Sunday of Lent falling on the day after spring has been deemed "official" reminds us of our great anticipation for the springing forth of new grass... flowers... buds and blooms.
 
How leery we are during the time of cold... snow... ice and chilling winds that we will see the day of resurrection for our world outside. The mystery and time line of it all is not easy to understand.
 
Waiting and wondering when the weight of sickness... suffering... brokenness... separation... loss... fear... rejection will cease to be such a burden on our hearts keeps us from the certainty of expectant blossoms that may be immanently predicted.
 
When we are cold and shivering... a voice of warm encouragement... reminding us of what was... and what will come isn't always greeted with enthusiastic belief.
 
"Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am...
                           so they picked up stones to throw."
 
Breaking the hard ground of winter is a slow process... and in this fast culture of daily and even split second change... we have to "take time to be holy".
 
"All sunshine and sovereign is God, generous in gifts and glory."
 
But HOW LONG MUST WE WAIT... the morning is still so dark and gloomy... the cold rains still fall... the ground is bleak and bare... when can we spring green.
 
"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you. Take your everyday, ordinary life... your sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking around life... and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for God. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out."
 
Spring green in the light of God's love and grace.