Signs of Spring - the changing season

 It has been a long long winter…. and i’m not talking about the world outside! As ecclesiasties 3:1 says:

“There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under the heavens:”

Sometimes you might feel the warmth of summer and other times it might feel a little bit colder. The past six months for me has been bitterly cold and I have felt a little like I was in a winter that would not end. Through this time I have been clinging to the fact that this too shall pass and verses like Peter 5:10-11:

And then, after your brief suffering, the God of all loving grace, who has called you to share in his eternal glory in Christ, will personally and powerfully restore you and make you stronger than ever. Yes, he will set you firmly in place and build you up. And he has all the power needed to do this—forever! Amen.

1 Peter 5:10‭-‬11 TPT

Thankfully after some very dark days this season began to come to an end and I began to see signs of spring apparent in my life. For us as a family this change of season has meant a physical change of ministry and house. This change was quite a quick one and it meant moving to a house we have never visited. As we began to pack up our house and prepare for our journey, I mentioned a couple of times to Paul how I couldn't wait to move into our house to be able to buy a bunch of daffodils as I really missed flowers in our home. Dafodils have always been one of my favourite flowers and a manifestation of the season of spring arriving. For me a bunch of daffodils in our new home was a not only a physical sign of spring but a spiritual one too. 

As the move grew closer so too did the signs of spring in my life. This quote from CS Lewis’ ‘The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe’ sums it up for me: 

‘Every moment the patches of green grew bigger and the patches of snow grew smaller. Every moment more and more of the trees shook off their robes of snow. soon, wherever you looked, instead of white shapes you saw the dark green of firs or the black prickly branches of bare oaks and beeches and elms. Then the mist turned from white to gold and presently cleared away altogether. Shafts of delicious sunlight struck down onto the forest floor and overhead you could see a blue sky between the treetops.’

I love it how God is in the details and can speak to you powerfully in the smallest, yet, sweetest of ways. Last week as we arrived at our new home, there was a feeling of spring in the air and as I walked into our new home I was stopped in my tracks. In the middle of the living room  is the most beautiful of fireplaces and around the fire are a number of decorated tiles. On these tiles are beautiful little daffodils. My bunch of daffodils were already there waiting for me, and what’s more these daffodils wont die as a bunch of flowers will...but they will always be a reminder of the changing seasons of life and that spring will always come around once more.

The beautiful daffodil tiles

I leave you with this beautiful and vivid picture from song of songs 2: 11-13

The season has changed, the bondage of your barren winter has ended, and the season of hiding is over and gone. The rains have soaked the earth and left it bright with blossoming flowers. The season for singing and pruning the vines has arrived. I hear the cooing of doves in our land, filling the air with songs to awaken you and guide you forth. Can you not discern this new day of destiny breaking forth around you? The early signs of my purposes and plans are bursting forth. The budding vines of new life are now blooming everywhere. The fragrance of their flowers whispers, “There is change in the air.” Arise, my love, my beautiful companion, and run with me to the higher place. For now is the time to arise and come away with me.

I dont know what season you are in, whether you feel the wrmth of the sun upon you or not, but I urge you today to look for signs of spring, to thank God for changing seasons and spend time in the higher place with the father