Spring is Coming

I will sing of your salvation.

It seems that spring is coming late for many of us this year. Bitter cold and record snowfalls ushered in the season here in the Midwest. Still, we know warmer weather is around the corner. The buds of tulips and crocuses are breaking through in spite of it all. New life and new growth won't be held back, even by the most inclement of weathers.

The same can be said of our Lenten journey. The past few weeks have been a time to face our fears, our faults, and our deepest needs. We have dealt with pain and sorrow while encountering Christ in new ways, not as a distant figure to be feared, rather as a companion upon whom we can depend. This is heavy, sometimes uncomfortable work, but we are nearing our spring. In only a few short days, we will celebrate new beginnings, new life, and new hope.

Easter is a time for joy. Today, think for a moment about how close we are to those buds of new life hiding just under the snow.

I'll leave you with some thoughts on joy as we near Easter.

Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day. It is a choice based on the knowledge that we belong to God and have found in God our refuge and our safety and that nothing, not even death, can take God away from us. 

It might sound strange to say that joy is a result of our choices. We often imagine that some people are luckier than others and that their joy or sorrow depends on the circumstances of their life--over which they have no control. 

However, we do have a choice, not so much in regard to the circumstances of our life, but in regard to the way we respond to these circumstances. Two people can be the victims of the same accident. For the one, it becomes a source of resentment; for the other, the source of gratitude. The external circumstances are the same, but the choice of response is completely different. Some people become bitter as they grow old. Others grow old joyfully. That does not mean that the life of those who become bitter was harder than the life of those who become joyful. It means that different choices were made, inner choices, choices of the heart.
~Henri Nouwen from Here and Now

What are you choosing today? Do you choose joy?

I will sing of your salvation.