Loading...One of the things I love about living further south is the way the Redbud trees announce Spring. The bright pink buds against a brown and green background seem to demand my attention, make me look out and up, and remind me that we are all ripe for transformation.
In this season of Easter, the earth shows us what transformation can look like. It turns the bleakness of winter into a plethora of colors. We can look down as the violets and dandelions poke out of the greening grass. The daffodils and jonquils smile at us in clumps along the roadways and in yards. Bushes of forsythia shine like the flames of a thousand lit candles. The flower buds on so many trees burst open in whites, many shades of pink, and yellows, filling the air with so much fragrance.
And then, the Redbuds. They capture my attention just a little more than the rest. Maybe it’s the contrast against the other trees, especially evergreens, that makes them so vibrant. The way they glow seems to force me to look at how the forests are filling out with all the shades of green, and to listen for sounds from animals and birds as they pair up and build homes for themselves and their offspring.
Spring is the promise that the world will continue, even when, and maybe especially when, the aches and pains, the disasters and wars, the tragedies and threats that muddy our airwaves and blight our vision want us to pay attention to what is wrong in this world.
Perhaps it is the blooming that reminds us that God is still with us, calling us to follow, calling us to find beauty and love, hope and expectation.
We’ve walked through Holy Week, and we know, first-hand, that life can seem unmanageable, unpredictable, and that people can be cruel. We can cry out at the unfairness of it all. We can tremble with fear. We can weep.
But we can’t stay there, we can’t stay in Holy Week, we need to go to see that the stone covering the tomb has been rolled away, and hear the words, “He is not here. He has been raised.”
When we step away from Holy Week and into Easter, following Jesus, when we live, expressing the abundant love of a living God, when we empty ourselves of fear, we may be able to look up and see the Redbuds, bursting in their pink array, reminding us that with God’s help, we can be transformed.
Wishing you a blessed Easter season,
Debbie+
