4 minute read
Springtime in the Heart
from April 2020
by Chester V. Clark III
Roses are red, Violets are blue, Spring has come, Now all I need is you.
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At least that’s the closest I can remember the poem after it was translated from Russian into English. I was a young, single pastor holding evangelistic meetings in Siberia not long after the fall of the USSR. Twice a day the largest theater in town was packed with individuals anxious to hear the Word of God! Many of them had lived their whole lives under the oppressive thumb of Communism. Tears flowed down their cheeks as we gave them the first Bible they’d ever owned, and they hugged it close to their chest. What a joy it was to see the gospel of salvation through faith in Jesus give them the heart’s ultimate freedom!
Many of those who came to our meetings were young people. It probably didn’t hurt that my team of Americans were mostly young students themselves! In those desperate times one of the best ways for a young Russian to find their way out of the depressing future they faced was to marry a westerner.
So, in the question box the notes went. Along with the hundreds of legitimate Bible questions we would find assorted such lovely notes. Sometimes they would be anonymous, but other times they would be signed with details such as “Olga, Row C, Seat 26.” Then I’d have to go early to the empty theater to make sure and identify which section I should avoid looking at during my appeals! Perhaps it’s the creativity, or the fact that it employed a poetic phrase familiar in English; but for some reason this note has stuck in my mind. I don’t remember the young lady, or if I even identified her. I have no idea where she’s at today or what turns her life may have taken. But in my mind she’s become a symbol of all of us – and the love that we all need.
You see, I’m convinced that all of us – Americans, Russians, rich, poor, black, white, or otherwise – were created in God’s image with the capacity of and purpose for relationship. And most importantly we were created to be in relationship with God. “He has put eternity in their hearts,” Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 3:11. Like the brown, leafless trees of winter are created for the saps of spring – and respond with leaves and fruit and blessings for countless creatures – so our human hearts, cold and empty and lonely, were
created to be permeated with God’s love. Living in relationship with God is the ultimate fulfillment of life’s purpose and the only way to be maximally happy, productive, and useful. “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore” Psalm 16:11. The good news of the gospel tells us, furthermore, that the God of the universe is madly in love with us and desperately desires to fill us with his love, joy, peace, and happiness that alone can satisfy the soul!
I don’t travel internationally much anymore. It’s been a decade or more since I last visited Russia. But every year I see the trees and flowers of spring and I’m reminded of how beautiful God’s creation is, even damaged by sin. And sometimes Spring reminds me of that handwritten Cyrillic note. From the daffodils and dogwoods and maples, my eyes turn heavenward with the prayer, Roses are red, Violets are blue, Spring has come, Now all I need is You.
About The Author
Chester Clark III is Senior Pastor of the Dalton Seventh-day Adventist Church. He has had the joy of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in more than fifty countries, and now enjoys living in Dalton with his wife Jane and daughter Ella.
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