Beauty Breaks Forth

Feel the sun on your skin
Growing strong and warm again
Watch the ground: there's something moving
Something is breaking through
New life is breaking through 

Spring is coming, Spring is coming
And all we've been hoping and longing for soon will appear
Spring is coming, Spring is coming
And it won't be long now, it's just about here

  ~Steven Curtis Chapman, "Spring is Coming"

We had a very unusual advent of spring this year.  We were greeted by at least six inches of snow!  It's been fun, though it won't last long.  In fact, it's gorgeously sunny today and the snow's a-melting.  I love spring!  I love how it bears such a reminder that God is about making all things new!  The song above was a powerful gift during a difficult time a couple of years ago--our family was separated for several months during Warrior's deployment.  I always considered it a special grace from my Lord that the timing of it and everything we went through traced the same pattern of the seasons.  And since his return was in spring, this song ministered deeply to me in that time as we waited with great hope and anticipation.

These images also speak something of Narnia to me---when winter's long spell is broken and the signs of life are breaking forth everywhere.  Aslan is on the move.  Winter has been conquered.

Lord Jesus, before You I patiently wait
Come now and within me a new heart create
To those who have sought You, You never said "No"
Now wash me and I shall be whiter than snow

~"Whiter than Snow," by James Nicholson 

There's something remarkable about the contrasts in a spring snow--plants on the cusp of life following the dormant season.  Colors painted on a canvas of white.  I can always use an infusion of new life to awaken me from a sense of dormancy!

Off to enjoy the beauty of today's sunshine with my little ones!