Rise Up

It's mud season in Minnesota. All the snow is quickly melting, revealing patches of dead, matted grass and leaving huge mud puddles behind. This is actually the ugliest time of the year around here. All the trees are still barren and the ground is brown and soggy. The roads are full of potholes and the rivers are full of ice chunks and debris. And yet everyone is spending as much time outside as possible. The sun is out, and we've missed it so much over the long winter months. Everything is dirty and ugly now, but we know spring is coming, so we happily endure the mud because grass and flowers won't be too far behind.

Winters in Minnesota are so long and cold that we sometimes despair of ever feeling warm again, but when the sun finally comes out and the snow melts, we all have a merry celebration because we made it through one more winter. Sometimes I feel that way about my life. I go through a rough patch and I don't know how long it will last. Like the Minnesota winter, it may feel like the hard times will go on forever. But eventually things get better, and the flowers of spring bloom in my heart. Although I may not know when my spring will come, I trust God to send it along eventually. When the time comes, He'll be ready to rescue me from the hardships that plague me, and together we'll celebrate the good fortune He sends my way.

I am lucky to have a God who loves me enough to send me my own personal springtime in due course. It can't be spring and summer all the time, but the winter won't last forever. It's just a season, part of the ebb and flow of my life. God has given me good times and hard times in my life, but He's always made sure I could get through and He's always promised me a light at the end of the tunnel. No matter how dark things get, I always know that spring will come eventually. God won't leave me stuck in winter forever because He loves me. He's probably as eager for spring as I am.

Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come with me.
See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone.
Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, 
The cooing of doves is heard in our land.
The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come with me.
(Song of Solomon 2:10–13)