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17 August, 2008
The Spring of the Christian Soul
Spring is a time when things become new. As the long, dark of winter finally ends; new life suddenly emerges from what once appeared to be dead. This seasonal change is more drastic than that from Spring to summer, or summer to fall. In the span of a week or so, things that were grey and dreary suddenly become bright and full of life. I sit and look out my window across a hillside that two weeks ago was brown, and is now green with life. Not just plant life, but birds and bugs emerge and begin their movement like a well-orchestrated symphony. In the heart and mind of a person, this sudden change from death to life also begins to spark in the realization of newness, of life.
Springtime should be time of rejoicing and reflection for the Christian. It is not enough to admire the beauty that springs up with the arrival of Spring; rather, the Christian should use this time to reflect on the arrival of Spring in their soul. All of nature is built by God to show His glory, but also to point man to Him. And, I think, the arrival of Spring does more than this. It also gives a visual example of what happens in the soul of man when he is born again into New Life with Christ.
Before a true encounter with Christ, we live our lives in a dreary wasteland. Our souls shuffle along, dying more each day. Our lives are meaningless, pointless, and repetitive. The picture that C. S. Lewis gives us in his work The Great Divorce is fitting of who and what we are as we move through the dark and dead world, becoming darker and lifeless ourselves.
But suddenly there is an Arrival. This Arrival is not that of a thawing or slight warming upon the cold plain of our lives. It is the Arrival of the Morning Son pouring forth Light and New Life into all He reaches. When this happens to our soul, we cease to be bent and burdened with shadow and death. We instead have our crooked backs straightened upright, the lifeblood of our souls becomes quickened with warmth and vigor. We look around and see that the place we are standing in is no longer death and darkness; it has become a lush garden with Life-giving Water flowing continually.
This is the Spring of the soul, the experience that gives our lives meaning, and removes the repetition of death. We no longer become bound by the strictures of the wintry death of sin. We instead step forward into the Love and Grace of the Springtime’s Son. Instead of the death song we sing with the Psalmist “Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices.”
For the Christian, Springtime is to be a time of continual rejoicing. It is no accident, I think, that Easter is celebrated in the beginning of Spring. The Risen Savior is the ultimate symbol of the New Life found in Spring. Spring should be a time where the Christian contemplates the imagery given us by the Creator to remind us of our own Spring. It is a time to often think of the contrast between our old life, and our New Life in the Son.
The coming of Spring in the soul gives the only New Life that is lasting and true. The New Life in the Son will not pass away like the Spring of the world passing into summer, fall, and winter. So as the Spring arrives, let us look not to nature’s finery in simple bliss, but let us look to it as a mighty symbol of the Spring in our souls.
Springtime should be time of rejoicing and reflection for the Christian. It is not enough to admire the beauty that springs up with the arrival of Spring; rather, the Christian should use this time to reflect on the arrival of Spring in their soul. All of nature is built by God to show His glory, but also to point man to Him. And, I think, the arrival of Spring does more than this. It also gives a visual example of what happens in the soul of man when he is born again into New Life with Christ.
Before a true encounter with Christ, we live our lives in a dreary wasteland. Our souls shuffle along, dying more each day. Our lives are meaningless, pointless, and repetitive. The picture that C. S. Lewis gives us in his work The Great Divorce is fitting of who and what we are as we move through the dark and dead world, becoming darker and lifeless ourselves.
But suddenly there is an Arrival. This Arrival is not that of a thawing or slight warming upon the cold plain of our lives. It is the Arrival of the Morning Son pouring forth Light and New Life into all He reaches. When this happens to our soul, we cease to be bent and burdened with shadow and death. We instead have our crooked backs straightened upright, the lifeblood of our souls becomes quickened with warmth and vigor. We look around and see that the place we are standing in is no longer death and darkness; it has become a lush garden with Life-giving Water flowing continually.
This is the Spring of the soul, the experience that gives our lives meaning, and removes the repetition of death. We no longer become bound by the strictures of the wintry death of sin. We instead step forward into the Love and Grace of the Springtime’s Son. Instead of the death song we sing with the Psalmist “Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices.”
For the Christian, Springtime is to be a time of continual rejoicing. It is no accident, I think, that Easter is celebrated in the beginning of Spring. The Risen Savior is the ultimate symbol of the New Life found in Spring. Spring should be a time where the Christian contemplates the imagery given us by the Creator to remind us of our own Spring. It is a time to often think of the contrast between our old life, and our New Life in the Son.
The coming of Spring in the soul gives the only New Life that is lasting and true. The New Life in the Son will not pass away like the Spring of the world passing into summer, fall, and winter. So as the Spring arrives, let us look not to nature’s finery in simple bliss, but let us look to it as a mighty symbol of the Spring in our souls.
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