Spring--New Every Morning

{Not too shabby for not having a macro lens, eh? Try using your super-zoom or telephoto!}

The past two days are the first time that it has felt like spring to me. Lizzy and I have been enjoying walks outside and playing on the playgrounds nearby. Every day, it seems like I see just a few more flowers in bloom, and it makes me look forward to summer just that much more.

This is the first year that I've really, REALLY spent time thinking and reflecting on spring in the context of Lent. In the last Beth Moore video that I watched on Wednesday, she mentioned the fact that not only had David committed adultery with Bathsheba, but he also had her husband murdered. I've heard the story of David and Bathsheba a number of times, but something just really clicked for me this time. See, that's some pretty dark stuff...mafia-type stuff. Way more dark than most of us will ever have to deal with in our lives. And yet, it STILL wasn't too dark and too bad for God to redeem. David turned to God and asked for forgiveness:

Create in me a clean heart O' God

And renew a right spirit within me

Cast me not away from thy presence

And take not thy Holy Spirit from me

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation

And uphold me with thy free spirit (Psalm 51:10-12)

Sometimes I forget that David lived in the Old Testament times. I forget that David's forgiveness wasn't a given. But, David asked God, and he was washed white as snow. He was made completely new. And the forgiveness that David received wasn't the type of forgiveness that most of us experience in real life--it wasn't the 'Oh, I forgive you, but I'm going to bring it up every time we argue' variety. It was complete forgiveness. Washed white as snow.






During this season of Lent, I'm reminded that I was made new as well. I am washed white as snow, continuously. Through the incredible sacrifice of Christ, I have been forgiven. And not only have I been forgiven, but God sees me as being perfect. Even I don't see myself that way...but God does.

This isn't something that stays in the front of my mind every day, year-round. It's easy to forget. But this spring, as I'm watching new life appear every day, and meditating on Jesus' journey to the cross, it's in the forefront of my mind--as we lead into Easter, I can't stop thinking about how BLESSED I am that God's mercies are new every morning. What a GIFT to know that he gives forgiveness so readily and so freely! That he provides for me in ways beyond my imagination. Just like the flowers in the spring, I have the opportunity to come alive again, no matter how long my winter was...and for that, I am so, so grateful.

Nature is God's first missionary. Where there is no Bible there are sparkling stars. Where there are not preachers there are spring times...If a person has nothing but nature, then nature is enough to reveal something about God.

~Max Lucado