Life Appears.....

Proverbs 15:24

The way of life winds upward for the wise, that he may turn away from hell below.

The way of life...what an interesting term.

A direction that life must truly take in order for it to be the life God gives.

Life is more than breathing and be conscious of our natural world around us. For if that is life, then we are no better than the animals here on earth.

Life winds upward...it spirals to the dictates of God. We follow a voice that cannot be deafened or dimmed by the din and roar of this world.

I am reminded each spring with the new growth and activity that surrounds me, that life is cyclical. In order for new life to come, there has to be a death...a season of death. Death to the things that hinder me in my walk with God. Hebrews 12 calls it the "weight" that keeps us from moving in the pace God desires us to. It hinders us and slows us down. It draws our attention away from God and focuses it on ourselves. We loose sight of what God expects of us daily because we are focused on this thing...this weight, be it attitude or behavior, that seeks to have our full attention. The Hebrews 12 passage call us to lay aside, cast off, remove these very things, for they serve no purpose but to slow us and keep us from what God has for us today.

I have not always been a big fan of springtime. I'm not sure why but fall has been my season of preference. But as of late, my love for springtime has grown. I think my wife's enthusiasm for spring has something to do with it. We worked in the yard on Wednesday, raking and hauling leaves. Mowing some of the yard and in general just trying to get if livable again. Once finished we sat on the back patio with some iced tea surveying what we had accomplished. The wind was lightly blowing just enough to make it a comfortable time. I sat there looking at our trees as if I was seeing them for the first time. The Oak tree nearest our house has grown a lot. I didn't notice it till I saw the limb that, last year, had only covered our patio but now stretched out almost to the roof of the house. Isn't growth with God like that?
We feel like we're not growing in many facets of our relationship until God has us to stop and sit with him for a moment. There in the sitting, we are suddenly aware of "limbs" of our life which have stretched into areas we had not noticed them before. God moving and changing attitudes and the way we see things show us the growth that we may not have noticed.

Spring time is also a time of color.
When the grays and browns of winter die and give birth to color of unmentionable beauty.
If we allow the things in us to die, God will resurrect them in His good time and they will burst from our lives in a pallet of divine color.

I'm ready for spring in more ways than I could ever imagine or hope to think about.

Bring it on God!!!

God on you....

mb