Welcome to Spring: God’s season of rebirth, growth, and regeneration. Nature awakens from slumber in springtime. New life flourishes. No wonder spring is used as a metaphor for spiritual rebirth and development in the Bible.

Makes sense, right??

There is a season for everything, including planting and uprooting, according to the author of Ecclesiastes. The best time to plant is in the spring since the warm, moist soil is ideal for seed germination and growth. And what of the soil in our souls?

Mankind is formed from the slime of the earth, so its only fitting that we’d be somewhat attuned to those cycles from whence we came.

Winter’s deprivations certainly prime human drives to regenerate by denying us warmth and fruit and light. Humans come to appreciate more for the lack. I certainly do.

Who doesn’t rush to drink when deprived of water? (Seriously. Who?)

Personally, I’ve been known to soak up sun like a lazy cat after a long winter chill. But sunbathing is so much more than getting a tan or manufacturing vitamin D. Sun fuels one’s sense of hope. One can see when it’s bright outside. Opportunity abounds when our landscape is animated by all that’s fresh and new.

But God is wise to grant us humans the cycles required to maintain optimum function. This flux of fasting and feasting encourages us to sow seeds of trust and hope in our hearts just as we do in the ground. Why? Because we survive on stores of hope and trust when darkness comes…and it always comes until we’re finally called home.

The prophet Isaiah mentions spring in his writings as well “Look, I’m trying something new! Do you not notice it as it now emerges?” (NIV) (Isaiah 43:19). This chapter serves as a reminder that God is constantly at work, creating new things, and that we should be receptive to the fresh opportunities and blessings that present themselves to us.

The passing of one thing makes way for the new, for God’s will to work in place of the human will that often becomes stuck in ruts, killing our spirit by holding onto passing phases and refusing his will. Our expectations are limited, God’s not so much!!

As he says, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow,” the apostle Paul uses the metaphor of planting and growth in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 3:6, NIV). This chapter serves as a reminder that while we may sow the seeds of hope and faith, it is ultimately God who causes those seeds to grow and bear fruit.

The Israelites are told in the book of Leviticus to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the spring, during which they are to purge their dwellings of all leaven and consume unleavened bread for seven days. This celebration serves as a reminder that we should purify ourselves before God by removing sin from our lives in the same way that we would purge leaven from our homes.

And don’t forget Spring cleaning!!! One man’s trash is another man’s treasure may be a crass saying, but it is absolutely true. I cannot tell you how grateful I’ve been in my life for second hand shops. Clothing, crafts, furniture, teaching tools, and books in abundance.

Have you ever benefited from the largesse of others? From strangers?

Waste not, want not. Embrace the new this Spring. Yield to God’s seasons and realize His goodness in all its splendor!