MAR 2018

March is here! Think early flowers, returning birds, spring peepers and
greening grass. Cleverly, various horticultural organizations choose this
month to have their annual flower shows. Soon, we’ll be planning our
gardens with dreams of producing the marvelous displays we’ve seen at
these shows or in magazines. Alas, too often it is just dreams – my garden
has never looked as nice as theirs.
Dreaming, hoping, all are a part of this month of the arrival of Spring.
They’re also a part of life. Dreams and hopes are what keep us going when
things in our lives are Winter barren.
This March, we are deep in the season of Lent. As we spend time in the
Scriptures, we see that dreams and hopes are found in abundance in the
spiritual realm, as well. As we get to the last week of this month, Holy
Week, we’ll have gone through the final days of Jesus’ ministry on earth.
Through these weeks, the disciples accompanied Him through days of
learning. Hard lessons, about unconditional love which turned their
traditions upside down; about suffering and danger which dashed their
dreams of a new kingdom; about a Crucifixion which terrorized them and
changed their hopes into utter despair.
But, in the end, there’s Easter. We’ll have to wait until next month for that!
But it will teach us that, even when our hopes and dreams become great
disappointments, what is left has become better than anything we could
have imagined.
Spring – and Easter – lies just around the corner. Hold onto your dreams.
Dare to hope. Put it all in the Lord’s hands. March is the time of newness
and discovery. Enjoy every day.