I don’t know about you, but I am looking forward to spring. It will be the Webster’s first spring in Princeton and both Martha and I are looking forward to witnessing the first white flower on our Magnolia tree. In the meantime, we are truly grateful for what we do see here in our community and yard. Birds stop by regularly and provide us with a variety of music.
For the church season, we are on the cusp of the Lenten season. Lenten is the church’s opportunity to look and see where we might be falling short of Jesus’ teachings and make a U-turn when necessary. The hardest part I find is staying the course and not make another U-turn when Lent ends.
For now though while we wait for the Lenten season to start next Wednesday, which will be Ash Wednesday, we are in ordinary time. A time of growth. Which sounds a little bit like spring as we think about the liturgical color of green. But it’s not green outside. The trees are still barren, and it doesn’t feel like growth is happening. But it is. In the book of Numbers, God gave Moses a commandment to send spies into Canaan to check out the land.
In Canaan, They find the Land of Milk and Honey.
18 “and see what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, 19 and whether the land they live in is good or bad, and whether the towns that they live in are unwalled or fortified, 20 and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be bold, and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now it was the season of the first ripe grapes.” Numbers 13:18-20 (NRSV)
The spies return and report to Moses what they observed about the land. They reported and written in verse 27 “that they came to the land to which you sent us; it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.”
They brought back a branch of grapes as well as pomegranates. I can easily envision how beautiful the fruit looked after spending 10 days in Turkey back in 2010.
Fruits of the Season
Kentucky is far from the tropics or even the
Middle East. We may not have fresh fruits, vegetables, trees or fresh flowers
growing in Kentucky right now but let us be thankful for what we do have. If we
concentrate only on the visible, we will miss the invisible. We will miss the
fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5:22) that God provides us every day. Even in winter, the Holy Spirit provides us
with love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control. We experience these gifts every week in our
congregation and in this community. These fruits (gifts) can sustain us even in
the dead of winter. These fruits can sustain us even on the gloomiest of days.
I am so looking forward to spring but in the meantime, we will enjoy the fruits
of the spirit everyday while we wait for the Magnolia tree to bloom.
God bless,
Rev. Donna Webster
