New Life Awaits

 

I always find the landscape to seem so stark when the snow melts away. There are no flowers to add their joy and color. The lawns are dormant and brown. All leaves are gone from the trees. The planet looks so lifeless and forlorn.

This bare tree captured my attention. Standing against a sky of brilliant blue, it was clear that this tree held no outward sign of life. It looked dead, a collection of brittle sticks that appeared fragile and without hope. How could this tree possibly live again? Yet I know that in a few months it will be green and growing and beautiful once again.

It brought to mind the great story from the prophet Ezekiel. Looking at a valley of dry bones, he has an experience with God.

“He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”

We can go through seasons where our lives feel stark and lifeless. We can experience times when it seems as if we are finished and our story is over. But it isn’t. Like the tree, new life awaits. As Ezekiel teaches, God is always breathing new life into the world and into our lives. This is good to know for our own lives, but it is also good to share with others who are in the depths of their own personal winter. New life awaits.

Peace.