Spring and New Life.

This afternoon after homeschooling the boys I decided to go take a look at my strawberry plants and black raspberry bushes out back. Every year I hope and pray that my strawberries make it through the Winter. My black raspberries usually fare very well over the winter months.

So outside I went with small shovel in one hand and a set of pruning sheers in the the other. My raspberry bushes go crazy with vines going this way and that way, all over the place. They are not nice either. Full of thorns and over 6 feet long. I always prune them down in the Spring or Fall so they don't get out of control and into our neighbor's yard.

I pruned the first bush and started digging under the matted down grass and leaves left from the Fall before. Low and behold there it was a beautiful green strawberry plant, and then another, and another. It looks like we will have more strawberry plants this year, than last year.

The raspberry bushes are already budding, and doing well. They look nice an neat now that I pruned them. I am thinking of putting up a tall chicken wire fence along the outer rim of the bushes, so they can climb taller and not poke at anyone.

So as I was giving new life to my strawberry plants, I got to thinking about God. Somehow my mind always turns to God when I am outdoor working with my hands. I thought about the strawberry plants that were buried by the grass and leaves, and how if I just left them under there without light, they would eventually die. Then I thought about how I was giving them new life by uncovering them so the light could reach them. Lastly my thoughts turned to human sinfulness, and how when we are deep in sin we are like those strawberries buried under the grass and leaves. There may be a bit of life or Christ in us to help us survive for a little while, but unless we dig ourselves out or are dug out and have the light shown to us we will surely stay in that sin forever. We can not have light in us, if we do not allow it to come in. We need to invite Christ into our lives if we want him to reside there and give us light. Just like those strawberry plants need light to grow, we also need God's light to grow as Christians.

The kids are memorizing this Bible verse this week:

Thy word is truth. John 17:17. Praise God for His immeasurable truth!