Spring is here!   The sun is shining and the daffodils are blooming, the first cut of the lawns has been completed and the air is full of the scent of newly mown grass.

Wonderful.  And as the Easter season approaches we can hardly wait to finish Lent in order to celebrate Spring and new birth.

But, what are we celebrating? Christ defeating the powers of death and giving us the hope of eternal life in heaven, or is there something more?

I cannot help but believe there is more, as God loves all he has created and wants us to know his love for each of us in our earthly lives too.  And he does this by giving us that peace in this world, as well as the next, which passes all understanding.   To know God is to follow him, and to see him in the world at large, busy using his creation to bring his love to the world.

When I read the Lazarus story – Jesus calls Lazarus out of his tomb and he walks out alive – I see more than Lazarus being physically raised from the dead.  I see Lazarus having an encounter with God, through Christ.  An encounter that brings life to Lazarus, his family and friends.   All sadness and mourning is destroyed in that moment of encounter with Jesus.  All troubles become minor, they take a back seat.

This happens many times during Jesus’ ministry of healing.  An encounter with God through him gives new life and energy for the future, and a feeling of well being ensues even in times which are hard.   Situations, and people, are transformed through him.

We have this same encounter with God through the Cross.  It is on the Cross that Jesus, the Son of God, dies.  As his Son dies God takes direct control and raises Jesus so showing that all things are possible by God and that it is from God the healing power comes.  When Jesus appears to over 500 people post the resurrection, he is not recognised immediately.  We have the story of Mary thinking he was the gardener and the story of the friends on the road to Emmaus who thought he was a stranger travelling on the road, to inform us of this.

It was again through encounter in the risen Christ that the disciples of Jesus met with God.

It is the same 2000 years later, the Spirit of God is with us, everywhere.  We are surrounded by the love of God.   This Easter time as we look through our windows or go for beautiful walks – in whatever we are doing – let us look for the presence of God in our surroundings, feel him close to us, and thank him too, that despite the pains and troubles of life, Spring always follows Winter.

With every blessing for the Easter Season

Ann