Isn't it exciting? Sun and rain, longer days and the melodious calling of returning birds mean spring is serious about the change of seasons. Canadian geese sound overhead, returning to their summer breeding grounds. They're probably grateful we had so much corn planted around here last fall -- a veritable banquet awaits them! A large mixed flock of red-winged blackbirds, starlings, grackles and brown-headed cowbirds moved back into our yard enjoying the scattered seed. It's so wonderful to hear the sound of birds again! Yesterday a lone robin watched the feeding frenzy from his post high in our birch tree. I wonder if he's the same robin who built a nest in our spruce last spring? Daffodils, then tulips blaze in the breeze! Even though the round of seasons is the same each year, isn't it a thrill to see those familiar signs?
That's the same way I feel about the Bible. I read straight through God's Word, cover to cover every year. Ever since Dec. 8, 1978, when I was baptized into Christ and began this new life (according to Romans 6:3-6), I've been reading the same book. But every January, the account of the six days of Creation increases my anticipation for the inspired story just beginning. As with the unfolding of each new season, I am drawn into the excitement of what's ahead. There's such drama in the ups and downs of man's history and God's involvement in His Creation. It doesn't matter that I know every twist and turn of the plot, I dive into each tragedy and triumph just as eagerly as I dig up my gardens each spring. There are the full harvest "seasons" of Joshua, Ruth and Esther; the "winters" of Job, the Kings and Old Testament prophets; new life in the spring renewal of the Gospels and Genesis itself. Acts and the epistles are the summertime of Christ's brand new bride, the Church. The more I read the Bible, the more precious it becomes to me! I am appalled by colorless, watered down, paraphrases. Who would want the condensed version of "Gone With the Wind"? I want all the spring green of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount -- all of winter's bitter blast in Job -- the fiery conviction of Stephen's dying defense in Acts!
As a readaholic, I go through a variety of devotional reading each day. At present I'm reading through five different study books. But each night, as I go to bed, I pull out my reading Bible with great anticipation for the next installment of "Man Meets God"! I can drift off to sleep with the assurance that God cares about us and is involved in every aspect of our lives.
"On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings." Psalm 63:6,7
May you sing in the promise of His spring!
Love as always, Elaine (dancing in the mud)
