From Death to Life

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. John 5:24-29

The world is blanketed once again with snow and a black bird sits outside my window, looking like a backdrop in a horror movie. Although the earth has turned towards spring on the calendar, it is not today bursting forth with new life. It is, in fact, still cold and wintery. The bunny decorations on a neighbors lawn look frozen and angry, wanting to be inside or in a burrow some where. When cold still covers everything, it is hard to believe spring is coming, and that new life is bursting forth in our souls.

Jesus tells us, in John's Gospel that the dead and the living can both hear the words of love and the call to revival. In a bleak setting, when the politics and the leadership were corrupt and brutal, he was reminding us all that there is more life hidden from view than we can imagine even. That God's love is so fierce that no ugliness, even death itself, can overshadow the life and love ready to burst forth.

Today I ask God to give me the strength to see the blossoms in the snow, the jonquils and the snowdrops and remember that even in the depths of the grave, new life is near. May the shadows of darkness and death find no hold on me today, rather may we all turn towards the light and lean in to the Son.