The Joy of Spring
The season of singing birds...
I asked my wife today what spring meant to her. Her face brightened. She broke out into that beautiful smile that first captured my heart, and still does. She exclaimed, “Spring is that little picture book we used to read the kids, the one about the robins. Spring is birds singing with joy as nature comes back to life. Spring is rebirth.”
Silly Diplomats
When I think of spring, I smile too. I recall a silly little ritual my fellow diplomats and I had when I was posted at our mission to NATO in Brussels.
In Belgium, the winter was gray and wet; it weighed upon your soul. When spring was at the doorstep, though, the sun made its appearance. Perhaps it sounds ridiculous, but there was something splendid and uplifting about that.
When that day came, one of my dear colleagues would issue the summons. We all paused from our stressful, serious business and gathered at his office window. We looked up and asked each other, “What is that golden globe in the sky?” Then, we filed out, back to the grind, smiles on our faces, a new lightness in our step. Spring was here.
That moment inaugurated the most wonderful time of the year in Brussels. Sunny skies, blooming flowers, gentle breezes, sidewalk cafes. There was nothing quite like sitting outside there with my wife in spring, enjoying a meal and a beer together. Glorious.
The Testimony of Spring
Yes, spring is rebirth. Spring is re-creation. Spring is new possibilities.
Death has died, new life has come. The birds proclaim the good news. This is the testimony woven into creation.
As I write these words, the sun is shining through the window, warm on my face, almost blinding. I hear the birds, nature’s choir. Outside, though, today is cold. Two turtledoves huddle against a gusting wind. Winter may be fighting back, but it has already lost. I feel joy.
I need that. Maybe you do too?
It has been a hard winter. My life has been scrambled, pressed down by crisis and anxiety and uncertainty. Our life has been scrambled, pressed down by crisis and anxiety and uncertainty.
A darkness has settled on this land. No one knows where it may lead, certainly not me. People are scared, people are hurting. The darkness, it does not relent.
And yet, in obstinate defiance, the dogwoods bud, the daffodils bloom, the robins sing. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it,” they testify.
Tell me, what is that golden globe in the sky?
A Short Meditation
My lover said to me,
“Rise up, my darling!
Come away with me, my fair one!
Look, the winter is past,
And the rains are over and gone.
The flowers are springing up,
The season of singing birds has come,
And the cooing of turtledoves
Fills the air.
The fig trees are forming young fruit,
And the fragrant grapevines are blossoming.
Rise up, my darling!
Come away with me, my fair one!
My lover is mine and I am his.
He browses among the lilies.
The light that animates spring is love.1
Romantic love and divine love carry within themselves the same miraculous seed – from intimacy springs forth the joyous fruit of new life.2 The former bears a temporal bounty, the latter an eternal one.
“The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of men, but of God.” (John 1:9-13)
Rebirth. Re-creation. New possibilities.
Rise up!
Un Petit Aperçu
J'aime le printemps. Le printemps, c'est la renaissance. Le printemps, c'est de nouvelles possibilités. La mort est morte, une nouvelle vie est venue. Les oiseaux proclament la bonne nouvelle. Voilà le témoignage de la création.
L'hiver a été dur. Les ténèbres se répandent. Les gens ont peur, ils sont bouleversé.
Et pourtant, les cornouillers bourgeonnent, les jonquilles fleurissent, les rouges-gorges chantent. « La lumière brille dans les ténèbres, et les ténèbres ne l'ont pas étouffée », témoignent-ils.
Le Christ est ressuscité !
Μία Περίληψη
Λατρεύω την άνοιξη. Η άνοιξη σημαίνει αναγέννηση. Η άνοιξη σημαίνει νέες πιθανότητες. Ο θάνατος πέθανε, η νέα ζωή έχει φτάσει. Τα πουλιά κηρύσσουν το Ευαγγέλιον. Αυτό είναι η μαρτυρία της δημιουργίας.
Ήταν ένας σκληρός χειμώνας. Το σκοτάδι απλώνεται. Ο κόσμος φοβάται.
Κι όμως, η γιακαράντα και οι νάρκισσοι ανθίζουν, οι κοκκινολαίμηδες τραγουδούν. «Και το φως φέγγει μέσα στο σκοτάδι, και το σκοτάδι δεν μπόρεσε να καταπνίξει αυτό το φως», μαρτυρούν.
Χριστός Ανέστη!
Note: I will be pausing the audio and foreign language sections of Into The Blue to enable me to meet other unforeseen obligations. Please let me know in the comments if these sections are valuable to you. If so, I will endeavor to add them back in the future when I am able. Thank you for your understanding!
Did you know the Bible contains an entire book of erotic poetry, Song of Songs? Romantic love, in a covenant context, is an image and shadow of the intimacy between God and his people. Knowing God is more than just head knowledge; it is deep, relational intimacy.
For those who struggle with infertility or have lost a child in pregnancy, I weep with you that the brokenness of this world has intruded upon you in this way. Please know that erotic intimacy can still bear the metaphorical fruit of life in your relationship with your partner, and that the brokenness of this world can never touch or corrupt the life-bearing fruit of divine intimacy. May God bless and comfort you.
Just what I needed today!