How wonderful a thing to watch spring come to a frozen wasteland.  Smells, so fragrant washing away decay, suffering, palsy and putrefaction.  Sun seeping layer by layer toward the heart, promising, prompting, probing for life.  Moments captured for memory as sentience returns, each blade of the glade remembering its vitality, stretching forth.  Inspired by hope of something that had been forgotten in long vapid sleep.  Movement, then limbering, then joy leading to abundance.  Hearts set aflame by expanding dawn.  What a wonder to watch a thing filled with life.  What a wonderful thing to see God’s face.

What is cleansing but a second chance at life?  Cleaned of the existing filth, death or dying, renewed then glued to God’s Spirit for eternity.  Knowing life all over again but with a different set of senses, keener, sharper, capable of wisdom, where before I just existed, now I truly live.  And intimately understanding my connection, my place, my name and purpose.  Better yet watching those around me grasping hope, joy, abundance and faith.  Watching the Spirit of everlasting life take hold of their passion, aligning them with God’s intention.  What a beautiful thing to see something born again through Christ.  Knowing that this joy, this moment, basking in my fellow’s salvation is a gift of God itself, a gift given for my own edification.  Connected, cleansed, ready and enhanced a different man faces my finite future with eyes seeing beyond my own end.

Of all the gifts I have been given, perhaps the greatest beyond my own salvation is the joy that comes seeing others sealed by the Holy Spirit of God for eternity.  It is a thing unlike any other, the hope of spring in the midst of darkest winter.  I am so grateful Lord to be awoken each time, to learn, to remember, to see something beyond myself.  Thank you Lord God in Jesus’ Holy Name.