Every spring I look forward to so many new things – the trees leafing out, the grass growing (ok, that could actually come a little slower), the flowers blooming, the pollen… Well, anyway, it is a blessing to come through the winter.

Fall brings the cooler temps and the end of ragweed and beautiful colors on our trees. But winter strips those trees bare and leaves them standing there. Besides having to rake leaves in the cold we also have to see these trees that have lost their covering and now stand naked to the world.

There is a barrenness and a feeling of death that lies across the land.

The winter months only reinforce that feeling for me. I’m sure that all of you winter fanatics love it but I could do with a bit less of it than we usually get. I like some of every season but when winter begins to lose its grip and southerly breezes begin to blow that is special. The frogs begin to sing and the flowers begin to poke their heads up in search of sunshine and warmth.

The reality is that while winter may seem like a time when nothing is growing and when everything is dead that isn’t the case. Everything is just waiting for its proper time to begin to do its thing. The life is there. You begin to know when you start to count the dead skunks on the road in February that something is in the air. Sorry, I really didn’t mean to do that right there but my point is that those skunks getting out and hunting for a mate and a nice nest under your porch are just another sign that spring is close.

Winter comes to its end. This is just as God said it would be. “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:22, NKJV)

But just as this dreary winter landscape needs an infusion of color and growth and life we also need the same. I think the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus point us to the fact that we also go through seasons of the soul. Some days we are hopelessly locked into the winter of a soul that is frozen in place and has no sign of life.

Yet spring is coming.

Jesus died on a cross so that our souls would be transformed by His presence. He gave Himself so that we could be one with Him and He could fill us with His life and power.

That dreary moment when the disciples turned from the tomb of Jesus must have been the bleakest moment they ever experienced. How much darker could it get? What could possibly happen that was worse than losing this One who had walked on water and calmed storms and called the dead to life? They had been convinced that He was the Messiah, God’s chosen One who would rescue His people.

Their weary and frightened thoughts continued as they made their way back to their home. Perhaps they would be next on a Roman cross. They shivered at the thought.

Sleep wouldn’t come as they replayed that last night and day. They rose in the morning to find that there was nothing to laugh at. The crust of bread they chewed on seemed as dry and hard as it ever had. There was no joy that they could find to lift their hearts. They had lost everything when Jesus died.

But that day came and went. The night fell. And morning came.

Jesus had told them what was going to happen but they were not prepared when the women came rushing in declaring that the tomb was empty and that they had seen angels who told them Jesus was risen and then Mary Magdalene came to tell that she had seen and talked with Jesus.

Death had seemed like such an insurmountable enemy. Could it be their enemy was defeated? It’s easy for us to critique these early disciples of Jesus. How could they have not understood? Why did they not get it?

But it is equally difficult for us to see the same realities as they play out in our winter. There are moments when it seems like there will never be spring again. But that isn’t so. Spring is coming for you and for me. Death will die. The birds will sing again. Life will be full and rich and sweet once more.

Easter is the guarantee of that.

Your Pastor,

Bro. Tim Hobbs“On this mountain he will destroy the burial shroud, the shroud over all the peoples, the sheet covering all the nations; he will destroy death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face and remove his people’s disgrace from the whole earth, for the Lord has spoken. On that day it will be said, “Look, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he has saved us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him. Let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”” (Isaiah 25:7–9, CSB)