Spring Thoughts

“Where the world sees impossibility, God sees potential. Where the world sees insecurity, God sees occasions for faith.  Where the world sees death, God proclaims life.” – Parker Palmer

The world seems to be in the hopeless mire of viral (literal + figurative!) fears.

Yet this broken earth holds wildflowers patiently awaiting their time of glory, and things sitting dormant tremble in expectation of awakening and revival.

How can we remain attentive to the signs and stirrings of life, buried as they may be?

1. Remember:

“Remember” appears a lot in the Bible.  From God’s rescue of the Israelites from Egyptians to Christ’s rescue of the world from sin and death – remember!  Remember that our sovereign God works in ways we don’t understand.  Remember that he has done great things, in impossible situations, with unimpressive, doltish people like us.  Remember that Jesus has won the final battle on the cross.  We learn to live in hope rather than fear, remembering that both in nature and history - winter, no matter how bleak, always leads to spring.

• What are some ways you’ve witnessed God’s rescue?
• Go through a book of the Bible and highlight the ways God worked through an impossible situation.

2. Rest.

God reveals the divine nature of rest from the very beginning.  He saw all he had made, pronounced it good and rested.  Rest surrenders all situations, all of us, to the One who makes all things good - even ourselves.  It allows our identity to come from our Creator, instead of what we do.  It follows the way of Jesus, who rested as crowds tried to follow (no social distancing during his time), rested while others panicked in a storm.  At rest, we notice the shoot of a wild crocus pushing up, the night sky in perfect constellation.  We realize that we are (surprise!) not the masters nor sustainers of this universe.  We experience the relief of relying on God, of falling into the Father’s arms, trusting him to carry us.

• Write some ways to incorporate the habit of meaningful, restorative rest in your life.
• What are barriers to this?  Ask the Holy Spirit for help.

3. Rejoice.

It seems ridiculously counter-intuitive, and maybe that’s why it’s such a holy thing – completely of God, foreign to us - to rejoice in the midst of suffering, the wilderness, waiting.  David praised God as he hid from his enemies, Paul and Silas sang hymns as they sat in prison.  God does not ask us to deny or distract ourselves from pain, but to invite him to enter into it with us.  We rejoice because we have a God who is not only intimate with and present in suffering, but transforms it into redemption and victory.

• Write/ draw/ paint 5 things you want to praise God for today.
• Sing your favourite worship song.

There is another reality on the move than what is seen on the surface.  Let’s be attentive.
Remember.  Rest.  Rejoice.

Karen Schaffer is the pastor of Faith Formation at The Tapestry Church