Spring in Heaven

I wouldn't have thought that my nephew from Florida, where they enjoy greenery and tropical trees all year round, would be so excited about a simple vegetable garden here in Nebraska. After his first winter back up North, he has really been thrilled to work with the soil and witness the growth of tiny seeds and plants that he labored so hard to get started.

I think the seasonal changes we experience here make us appreciate the growth and colors of plants so much more. The harshness of winter weather only enhances the spring fever that captivates so many of us. Our salad with dinner tonight tasted so much better with the radishes that we grew ourselves in our very own yard.

Gardening seems to make us feel closer to God, because without His sunshine and rain, nothing would grow. We are partners with Him in a sense. But another reason I think people in general get so much more excited about gardens here in the North is that it follows a long period of cold, unpleasant weather and nature all around us wakes up and becomes green with life again.

It will be the same feeling when we get to heaven. We'll enjoy it all the more because of the hardships endured here on earth during our lifetimes. It will be like entering the most beautiful springtime, multiplied by infinity. I can't wait to wake up in the springtime of heaven and warm up to His love firsthand.

Sacrifice

Tonight we say good-bye to our nephew for just a week, as he travels back to his old stomping grounds, Florida, for a holiday visit. Leaving this 20-degree Nebraska weather for sunny 80-degree Florida has to have its perks, but I'm sure at the same time it will be hard for him to see loved ones again for such a short time. Sometimes our lives demand sacrifices though that are hard to understand.

The biggest sacrifice of all, that of God's dear Son, is definitely one we have to ponder when we are faced with emotionally-driven events that don't always make complete sense to us at the time. Jesus not only made a sacrifice by dying for us, but the fact that He left Heaven to do it, is something we will never come close to simulating in our life situations here on earth.

Yes, what He left and what He did reveal sacrifices that don't make sense to us at all. Unless you remember the force that drove those sacrifices. It was love. Love demands sacrifices, and sacrifice demands love.  The sacrifice will follow, but it must begin with love.