There is a season

Spring will come….
Spring will come….
I am absolutely certain that spring will indeed come!…

I keep repeating this truth to myself. I need the reminder after this long winter that the freezing temperatures will end and the sun will break through the blanket of grey that has enveloped the sky for months on end. I will get to pack away my boots and store my winter coats. I will once again enjoy open windows, inviting a warm breeze to blow through the house while enjoying the melodious songs of the birds perched in their blooming trees. Spring will come again.
But then I look down at my car's thermometer and see that little snowflake flashing its bright white light, reminding me that it is still thirty degrees. It is late March and I'm still wearing my winter coat with the furry hood and my hands still feel like ice cubes despite wearing my thick alpaca gloves. I know that spring will come but it definitely has not sprung yet.
Despite freezing hands I hold onto the promise of the changing seasons. For twenty-three years I have experienced an annual spring. It has always come right after winter. Sometimes it comes in late February (Punxsutawney Phil, the famous groundhog, does not see his shadow!) and other years it has remained hidden until mid-April (Phil sees the biggest shadow ever!). The month and date hasn't remained constant but regardless of the unpredictability of its arrival, spring has always sprung.
This year will be no different. Flowers will once again bloom, grass will burst forth in vibrant green color and the temperature will break out of its arctic deep freeze.
God has promised to keep changing the seasons since the beginning of time, from all the way back in Genesis. God has planned for the seasons and knows precisely when they will arrive. Daniel 2:21 even says that He, God, "changes the times and the seasons." He is the master planner, knowing when to put a stop to the snows and blustering winds and when to introduce the song bird and the buds of the tulip. His masterful hand is on the seasons, always bringing forth a glorious spring no matter how harsh the winter.
God does the same work of change and rebirth in the lives of His children. Even after the most brutal trial and struggle God has a spring to unleash in perfect timing. As Ecclesiastics 3:1 says, "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven."
Just like the weather, I don't get to determine when God will change the seasons of my life. I would love to have every winter end in the first week of February, giving way to the brilliance of spring sooner rather than later. But God doesn't always give me spring precisely when I want it. In fact, sometimes it seems as though the wait will never cease. But experience has proven that there is always an end to my great anticipation. Spring always comes.
When I am tempted to grow weary in waiting for the change of seasons in my own life, changes that have nothing to do with temperature or the colors on the trees, I can look to the seasons for reassurance. God will not leave me in a perpetual state of winter. The dreary, bleak days of cold and wind will not go on forever. In God's perfect timing the seasons will change and my winter will gave way to spring.

This morning I heard a bird outside my window. Do you know what that means? Spring is coming. The winter has been long but God's faithfulness has not wavered. He is still God of the earth and God of the birds, bringing them back for their annual grand entrance.
God is changing the seasons of my life, too. Soon my life will be blooming with bountiful tulips in brilliant color. There will be new leaves on once bare trees and birds will be back in full song. Just as He promised, God is once again changing the seasons.