Spring, Growth, New Life

Talking to a farmer the other day took me back in time. It took me back to my childhood on the farm.

You see, springtime on the farm was my favorite time of year. Turning the soil and releasing the earthy smells of spring, planting the seeds that would grow and mature into abundance for feeding the animals and people. The crisp warmth of the morning. The sun sparkling across the damp dew of the morning. Everything, it seemed, was full of fresh opportunity, new life, a new start growing out of winter's death and possibilities unimagined.

I guess it is no accident that Easter, our faith celebration of new and renewed life, comes in the spring. The themes of nature and faith coincide in that both promise new life, a new start growing out of death and full fresh opportunities.

But it is more. Every moment with God offers promise. The seed of a new idea has the potential to deepen our faith perspective or set us off in a new direction with a deeper sense of purpose. The growing faith nurtured by the spirit has the potential to reap a harvest of our own faithfulness, or of something sparked in another. An old habit can be "put to death" giving room for something new and life giving. Priorities can be adjusted to fit the new directions in our lives.

Lest we be deceived, opportunities like this aren't limited to spring. The possibilities for new life are there every day. As we open our day with a remembrance of our Baptism and God's gift of the Holy Spirit, every day become the gift of grace, fertile soil for new life, growth and faith full of the spirit of the living God.

Even in the city, images of the farm ring true, and become true.