Endless Winter..Where is Spring?

Thursday of the Second Week of Lent

Snow in my front yard (3/5/2015)

Cursed is the man who trusts in human hearts, who seeks his strength in flesh, who heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a barren bush in the desert that enjoys no change of season, but stands in

lava waste, a salt and empty earth. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is in the Lord.   

-Jeremiah 17:5-10

This morning I woke up at 1:30 am from another nocturnal nightmare.  This time I dreamed of both my current boss and an old boss.  The scene: a theatrical style trial made up of an audience of friends, family and even people I never met in my life.  We sat there waiting on the Human Resources and management "judges" to present their case against me.  They demanded my resignation.  A member of my "legal" team planned to attack the opposition by pulling up some sort of drunk driving incident committed years ago..... I woke up with a start, wishing for peaceful dreams!

I heard the wind howling so I peeked outside to find 3+ inches of snow covering the backyard.  Here it's the first week of March, only a few short days away from Daylight savings time, and our city is blanketed with snow!  Needless to say, we are again shut down at work and all schools closed.

I prayed for another snow day and here it is.  I need to make the best use of my time off.  

Stubborn Winter doesn't want to leave us.  The cold, the chill and the lack of sunlight makes us all feel blah.  When will we see Spring again?  When will the barren trees bloom and the grass grow?  I think about the Dallas Arboretum and all of the tulip blossoms still buried in the ground, waiting for the arrival of sunshine so they can show off their colorful brilliance.

Trusting in human hearts is a natural. We all desire acceptance, appreciation, and respect.  The thing is the human heart is flawed and fickle.  We give and expect something in return.  We complain and expect a fix.  We love and expect love in return.   Only the Sacred Heart of Jesus can truly give us the unconditional love we crave.  We will not be disappointed if we place all of our trust in a God's beating heart; however, we will find out sooner or later how a human's beating heart can stop at a moment's notice, no longer providing us with the emotional and physical support.

When we turn our hearts away from the Lord, we allow ourselves to survive in an endless winter with our souls buried in ice and snow, wind and chill.  We shovel, removing the layers of snow just to have it re-accumulate. The freezing cold keeps our bones brittle.....

When we open our hearts to Christ, Spring emerges from dormancy.  The trees bloom while the grass greens up and the birds sing.  Cloudy skies convert to sunny skies.  The air warms up to a pleasant temperature.  We feel alive and rejuvenated!  We feel like praising and thanking the Lord for all of his blessings.  He removed the dark of Winter and replaced it with the light of Spring!

Readers of my blog may notice I use a lot of imagery in my meditations.  I'm quite a visual person, totally entranced with nature, art, and diverse colors.  Such imagery allows me to better communicate spiritual thoughts.  Even when I'm going through trying times, I thank the Lord for blessing me with creativity and imagination.  It's such a wonderful way for me to form a closer bond with God and hopefully inspire others.

-J.