Renewal

I love springtime. Sun. Warmer temperatures. Lower heating bills. There are so many great things about this time of year.
One of my favorite things about spring is the reminder that God is a God of second chances and renewal. All winter long I have looked out the windows of my home only to see brown grass, trees without leaves, and skies that are often gray.
But the last several weeks I have seen glimmers of hope. The grass is starting to green. There are buds on the trees. The sunshine shines more often and blue skies are becoming more commonplace.
The apostle Paul wrote the following…
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken.” With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:7-18)
Let springtime remind you of the unseen renewal God offers daily.

shine!
Jason