Hope Personified

No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Eyeballing the forecast, I knew my favorite, fleeting moment of spring would likely be arriving in the next seven days. While the exact timing changes from year to year, the conditions heralding its entrance are so consistent that I can reasonably predict it about a week ahead of time.

What is this mysterious moment? When the weather finally flips from overcast, clammy cold to a mix of sunny, warmer temps and rain, there is this brief interval in which all the world is covered in the softest, haziest veil of green—every shade represented—as trees and shrubs just barely begin to leaf out. For a day or three each spring, a fog of the lightest greens blankets everything, a gentle promise of the lush, verdant greenery to come. These few days are possibly my favorite of the entire year, and I wait all winter long for their arrival. For me, they are hope personified.

Summer in Minnesota means you cannot step outside without being enveloped in green—whether it be carefully cultivated or unruly and weedy. No matter the aesthetic, the coming of summer never fails to remind me of Jesus’ triumph over death through his resurrection.

Just as I anticipate these few, precious days every spring, I do the same with the promises of God when walking through a hard season. I look for evidence of his fingerprints in the situation, the assurance that he is in the midst of the chaos, tangible confirmation that I am not alone and that—no matter what happens—at the end of the story, God wins.

Sometimes, it’s a close friend who points out the quietly consistent signs of God’s presence, knowing my emotions are clouding my ability to see with spiritual eyes. And sometimes it is the whisper of the Holy Spirit in my thoughts, assuring me that this earthly adventure is temporal and temporary and that, no matter how hard it is, I am never alone. The promise in today’s verse is one I’ve clung to with gratitude time and again.

Julie

Today’s Act of Gratitude

What tangible signs remind you of the promise in Romans 8:39?