by Pam Benedict

Spring is my favorite season!  Now before you begin your argument for a different season, let me nod and agree that yes, there’s nothing more beautiful than snowflakes drifting down and covering the dull gray of winter with a fresh, white blanket of snow.  And it’s true, there’s nothing sweeter than a cold slice of watermelon on a hot summer day. And you are also correct in saying that there is nothing more invigorating that a walk through the woods on a crisp autumn day.  But I think spring still beats them all because it brings warmth and color after the cold and dark days of winter.

The first week of February I stepped outside to get our mail and was delighted to see one of my succulents with about ½” of new green growth poking out of the ground and a few bulbs pushing up new leaves through the mulch.  Out loud I exclaimed, “Winter, you can’t win!”  I knew that the groundhog had recently told us that there would be 6 more weeks of winter, but spring was on its way.  From the time God created the earth until now, spring ALWAYS follows winter.  Ice melts, snow geese migrate, and flowers bloom EVERY YEAR.

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. Song of Solomon 2:11

A few days ago, I was in Virginia visiting a close friend and I saw cherry & magnolia trees blooming.  Spring is making its way up the coast and will be here shortly!

Spring also has such beautiful spiritual parallels for me.  Even in the middle of cold and hard times, when it seems like there is no hope, God is working behind the scenes nurturing new life, sometimes in the middle of what feels like death.  He is in the business of making all things new.  And because Jesus conquered death, we have the promise of life.

Several years ago, a friend’s 19-year-old daughter was in a fatal car accident at the end of October. Her daughter had been good friends with my daughter Amanda in preschool up through middle school. I cried over the heartbreaking loss and wrestled with God.  There are no words sufficient for this level of grief.  But I took a meal and sat with my friend in her living room and we reminisced over pictures of her daughter and mine.  Words failed me but I wanted to do something that would provide some measure of hope and comfort. So I offered to plant daffodils in her front garden.  She agreed and on a cold blustery day in November, I dug in the dirt and with tears streaming down my face, I buried the dry, knobby balls in the dark ground and covered them back up.  By faith I knew that leaves would push up in February and a sea of bright yellow flowers would appear in the spring.  And by faith I also trusted that this precious young woman would rise again to life when the trumpet blows.

In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul writes a whole chapter about death and resurrection with powerful words that are the solid rock Christians have built their faith on for centuries.

Listen, I tell you a mystery:  We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed…Then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.”  Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death is your sting?

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God!  He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”

Anyone who has lost a loved one, knows that death does more than sting, it’s sometime an almost unbearable pain. I don’t think Paul is in anyway minimizing or saying that death doesn’t hurt. His emphasis is that death doesn’t get the last word.

In the same way that winter doesn’t win because spring always arrives, death doesn’t win either! Christ died and was buried.  And if that was the end of the story, we would be miserable and without hope.  But Jesus rose again, and because He lives, we too can live. He’s now at the Father’s right hand, interceding for us, and coming back soon! He holds the keys to death and Hades. He gets the final say, not death.

So, when we get that wintery mix this weekend and wonder how much longer we must wait… we can remember that Spring Is Definitely On Its Way!  And when we face the pain of a broken relationship, the unexpected loss of a job, or even the grief from the death of a loved one, we can remind ourselves that God is working, even when we don’t see it, even when we don’t feel it.

Winter doesn’t win.  Death doesn’t win.  Satan doesn’t win.  Jesus already won.