I hadn’t realized spring was here until we drove away from it.

A couple of weeks ago we headed north for a retreat and gradually left it behind. Blooming flowers and fields of green giving way to barren browns and grays. The temperature was about the same, but the color just faded away.

A reminder of seasons and change. We are never more than a few paces from winter, are we? It’s good to know that spring always comes around again.

Sometimes waiting is the most active kind of faith.

After 5 weeks in the hospital, my grandson is home and doing well. Still many unknowns, but the terror has subsided. The gray has lifted.

But I am holding some close in prayer who are a long walk from spring. Color is just a memory. And the heaviness of waiting is bearing down.

Down in the valley. Valley so low.

I’ve been reading about the passion week, and today is Good Friday. I’m thinking about the followers of Jesus who were there, feeling forsaken and despondent and so disappointed.

Faith so small. Blackness descending. Color all but gone.

And they can hardly remember what they are waiting for.

Death, a menacing companion. Grave, looming so large.

They can’t comprehend that Sunday is coming.

When we drove back down the mountain roads to home, we were surprised by the gradual returning of color. We had been gone only a few days, but we had somehow forgotten how lush and green it all was. We had somehow forgotten spring.

And it reminds me.

It reminds me to be active in faith through the bleakness of winter.

It reminds me of a rolled-back stone and an empty grave. A merciful God and a risen Savior. A future where every darkness and every part of dying is swallowed up in victory.

It reminds me of Sunday morning.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this? John 11:25-26

He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; for the LORD has spoken. Isaiah 25:8

Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. 1 Corinthians 6:14