What beautiful spring weather we’ve been having. Throughout the region, the Bradford pear trees are all abloom. The forsythia is showing its vibrant yellow. The redbud trees are starting to come out. And I can’t wait to see the azaleas and the dogwoods. From twenty years ago, I can still vividly remember that Danville is absolutely one of the most beautiful places on earth in the springtime.
Spring is an exciting time of year to me. Not only because of the bright colors. Not only because winter is coming to a close. But there’s just something about the springtime. You can feel it in the air. Spring is the season of hope and optimism.
Baseball, my favorite sport, starts in the spring. The first of April, all the major league teams begin a grueling 6-month, 162-game schedule. In the heat of summer, many teams will fade and falter. Some will do poorly from the very outset. But in the springtime, before the season begins, every team, no matter how bad their last season, has renewed hope. They all start out fresh with a clean slate. “Maybe this year will be our year”, they say. Truly, spring is the season of redemption, the season of anticipation, the season for a whole new beginning.
That’s because truly spring is the season of resurrection and new life. It’s fitting that during this time of year when everything in nature is blooming and budding, it’s also the time of year when the resurrected Lord Jesus emerged victorious from His dark grave. The visual reminders of new life in God’s creation powerfully remind us of the resurrection power of Christ that is available to all of us and the new life we personally can experience through Him.
I suppose all of these are reasons why I love spring. (You’ll have to bear with me for getting so excited about spring. You’ve got to remember that, coming back north from Florida, I haven’t seen a real spring in 12 years. So I’m seeing it all with fresh and more appreciative eyes.)
As I said, I clearly remember how beautiful Danville is in the spring of the year. But another thing I remember from twenty years ago is a slogan the city of Danville had to encourage people to clean up their yards and do other necessary spring cleaning. “Spruce Up! It’s Spring!” appeared on banners and was emblazoned on garbage trucks all over town. And for a period of time, you could take just about anything to the curb and the city would gladly haul it off for you.
I thought of that old slogan again this past week. With the weather warming up, and company coming to visit us, we recently tried to do some basic cleanup work in our yard. As you know, our home is located in Windsor Heights, right off of Highway 58. A steep embankment surrounds our back yard. I climbed up the wooded embankment, with garbage bag in hand, to collect debris that had found its way down from the roadside.
You know, it’s quite interesting what people will throw out of their cars. In my recent excursion I found some discarded Big Mac wrappers, some brown beer bottles, a vodka bottle, a couple of lottery tickets, and a few cigarette packs, among other things. Just as I was about to stereotype these litterbugs, the very last thing I picked up, interestingly, was a scripture memory card. The verse was Isaiah 61:1. (I can’t believe someone threw a scripture memory card out of their passing car. Perhaps it blew off the garbage truck.)
Spring is an exciting time of year to me. Not only because of the bright colors. Not only because winter is coming to a close. But there’s just something about the springtime. You can feel it in the air. Spring is the season of hope and optimism.
Baseball, my favorite sport, starts in the spring. The first of April, all the major league teams begin a grueling 6-month, 162-game schedule. In the heat of summer, many teams will fade and falter. Some will do poorly from the very outset. But in the springtime, before the season begins, every team, no matter how bad their last season, has renewed hope. They all start out fresh with a clean slate. “Maybe this year will be our year”, they say. Truly, spring is the season of redemption, the season of anticipation, the season for a whole new beginning.
That’s because truly spring is the season of resurrection and new life. It’s fitting that during this time of year when everything in nature is blooming and budding, it’s also the time of year when the resurrected Lord Jesus emerged victorious from His dark grave. The visual reminders of new life in God’s creation powerfully remind us of the resurrection power of Christ that is available to all of us and the new life we personally can experience through Him.
I suppose all of these are reasons why I love spring. (You’ll have to bear with me for getting so excited about spring. You’ve got to remember that, coming back north from Florida, I haven’t seen a real spring in 12 years. So I’m seeing it all with fresh and more appreciative eyes.)
As I said, I clearly remember how beautiful Danville is in the spring of the year. But another thing I remember from twenty years ago is a slogan the city of Danville had to encourage people to clean up their yards and do other necessary spring cleaning. “Spruce Up! It’s Spring!” appeared on banners and was emblazoned on garbage trucks all over town. And for a period of time, you could take just about anything to the curb and the city would gladly haul it off for you.
I thought of that old slogan again this past week. With the weather warming up, and company coming to visit us, we recently tried to do some basic cleanup work in our yard. As you know, our home is located in Windsor Heights, right off of Highway 58. A steep embankment surrounds our back yard. I climbed up the wooded embankment, with garbage bag in hand, to collect debris that had found its way down from the roadside.
You know, it’s quite interesting what people will throw out of their cars. In my recent excursion I found some discarded Big Mac wrappers, some brown beer bottles, a vodka bottle, a couple of lottery tickets, and a few cigarette packs, among other things. Just as I was about to stereotype these litterbugs, the very last thing I picked up, interestingly, was a scripture memory card. The verse was Isaiah 61:1. (I can’t believe someone threw a scripture memory card out of their passing car. Perhaps it blew off the garbage truck.)
When it came to cleaning up our actual yard itself, however, I had to call in professional help. The lawn was just filled with those annoying little sweet gum balls. Tons of them. Some people refer to those prickly little spheres as “land mines” for bare feet. Ouch! Anyway, my leaf blower/vac and my push mower with bag attachment just won’t pick them up that well. So I called Bobby Jones, who has more professional equipment than I do. It was still hard to get them all, but he got a lot of them. And now the yard looks great. (At least until those last remaining sweet gum balls fall off the trees.)
Anyway, there are some spiritual implications to all of this. Along with the beauty of spring comes the yard work of spring. I mean, we love our trees. But the reality is that with trees come leaves, as well as those dreaded sweet gum balls. Such is life.
There is a lot of beauty in life. But life also involves some adversity. That’s part of human existence. They key is, don’t let the sweet gum balls of life rob you of the joy of observing and appreciating life's blooming trees and flowering plants. Learn to praise God in all circumstances and always look for His Hand in every situation. Cultivate an awareness of God’s presence, and a greater sense of His inner peace and joy. Meditate on His Truth. Be saturated with His Word. That’s what helps us to endure the challenges of life.
Furthermore, we have to acknowledge that along the roadway of life, no matter how hard we may try to avoid it, we all can get hit with a lot of litter. And if we don’t deal with it, it lingers and becomes part of us. And litter robs us of the beauty that could be ours. The lawn of our life becomes unattractive to God and unappealing to others. We lose our usefulness and effectiveness. Thus, we’ve regularly got to gather up the garbage and get it out of our yard. This is what prayer and confession are all about. This is what cleanses us and enables us to stay fresh, green, and growing as children of God.
Over the next few days, as you’re sprucing things up in your yard, remember that this also is what God wants to happen in you spiritually on a regular basis. After all, Jesus Himself told us that He was the True Vine and we are His branches, vitally connected to Him as our life source. And God the Father is the Divine Gardner who comes and prunes away our dead and unproductive parts. And He even trims our fruitful parts that they might flourish and bear even more fruit for Him.
This spring, remember to let the Gardener have His way with you. Get rid of the sweet gum balls. Gather up the roadside litter. Stop and smell the roses. Put down some roots. And bloom where you're planted.
Pastor Danny
Anyway, there are some spiritual implications to all of this. Along with the beauty of spring comes the yard work of spring. I mean, we love our trees. But the reality is that with trees come leaves, as well as those dreaded sweet gum balls. Such is life.
There is a lot of beauty in life. But life also involves some adversity. That’s part of human existence. They key is, don’t let the sweet gum balls of life rob you of the joy of observing and appreciating life's blooming trees and flowering plants. Learn to praise God in all circumstances and always look for His Hand in every situation. Cultivate an awareness of God’s presence, and a greater sense of His inner peace and joy. Meditate on His Truth. Be saturated with His Word. That’s what helps us to endure the challenges of life.
Furthermore, we have to acknowledge that along the roadway of life, no matter how hard we may try to avoid it, we all can get hit with a lot of litter. And if we don’t deal with it, it lingers and becomes part of us. And litter robs us of the beauty that could be ours. The lawn of our life becomes unattractive to God and unappealing to others. We lose our usefulness and effectiveness. Thus, we’ve regularly got to gather up the garbage and get it out of our yard. This is what prayer and confession are all about. This is what cleanses us and enables us to stay fresh, green, and growing as children of God.
Over the next few days, as you’re sprucing things up in your yard, remember that this also is what God wants to happen in you spiritually on a regular basis. After all, Jesus Himself told us that He was the True Vine and we are His branches, vitally connected to Him as our life source. And God the Father is the Divine Gardner who comes and prunes away our dead and unproductive parts. And He even trims our fruitful parts that they might flourish and bear even more fruit for Him.
This spring, remember to let the Gardener have His way with you. Get rid of the sweet gum balls. Gather up the roadside litter. Stop and smell the roses. Put down some roots. And bloom where you're planted.
Pastor Danny
