One Beautiful Thing

Yesterday I stepped out the front door to begin my walk, but six steps into it I stopped. There they were, the beautiful crocuses in full bloom! I got down on my knees to snap this photo, and maybe to thank the God who gave me this gift.

Now the rest of the yard is still a mess. Patches of dirty snow still remain. The grass is matted down, brown and seemingly dead. The shrubs are bare as are the trees. Last year’s hostas lie wilted, limp and lifeless.

But here, under the living room window, this delicate flower has pushed its way up through the landscaping stones, and is boldly and beautifully proclaiming that Spring is here!

Later during my walk, I stopped to chat with my brother-in-law who lives down the road. “It’s been a hard year” he said. I agreed. The isolation, the fear, the turmoil, the desperate searching for any signs of hope. Maybe now with the vaccine offering the promise of protection, with the new government promising hope and normalcy, with the end of the mask mandates in sight, we can experience life in full again.

But my hope is in none of these. Instead, my hope is in the God who made the crocus bloom. My hope is in the Savior who, on a bleak morning when all hope seemed gone, burst out of a grave and proclaimed victory over sin and death. My hope is in the Christ who said, “Behold, I am making all things new!” Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus!

Revelation 21:3-5 (ESV) And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”