Spring is here and life is abounding. Although we are not yet out of our drought, the rain that we have received has done its job of greening up the countryside. Along with the color change comes hope and the excitement of new beginnings, and we continue to pray that the weather will cooperate and nurture the life that has arrived.
But although new life can be exciting, it can also be hard. Anyone who has planted seeds in a garden and watched them struggle up through the hard soil has witnessed the hard struggle of life. Likewise, if you have watched a chick hatch from an egg, a butterfly come out of a chrysalis or cow laboring to birth a calf, you are aware that moving from one stage of life to another is often a difficult process.
We recently bought a Border Collie puppy, and my veterinarian told me that I should not wake her up when she is sleeping. Being a puppy is hard work, hard enough that she needs to sleep often if she is to recover from the trauma of growing up.
Growth is hard. It involves change, and change is often frightening. As a church, we are beginning to grow, and I must tell you that I am excited by what I am seeing. Yet, in my excitement, I need to remember that growing as a church is a difficult task. If we are ultimately going to be successful in growing as a church, it will take hard work and not a little courage. But we serve a God of life, who waits for Spring every year so that he can pour life into our world. That same God is pouring life into our church, asking that we do our best to cooperate with that life.
