Spring Thoughts

Spring! It really IS the best of times. Even if the day you’re reading this on happens to be cold and grey, there’ll be wild flowers at the roadside, sap bursting in the trees, nest-building, lambs in the fields and tadpoles hatching.

I’m always thrilled by Hampshire springs. I grew up in Manchester and lived in other big cities until my mid 30s.

When, 5 years into our marriage my husband got a job in Hampshire, we left London fumes and everblaring sirens and together with our toddlers, discovered birdsong and hedgehogs in our first ever garden.

We’d moved, in late spring, into a house which had been uninhabited for a while. There by the back door was a long-tailed tits’ nest in a thorny bush. The nest, long and tube-like, was a triumph of architecture in itself and, despite two noisy and inquisitive toddlers, the tits didn’t abandon the nest and we soon had the joy of watching the little flock flitting from tree to tree in the garden.

But this lovely early part of April is particularly special in 2022 because it leads up to another life-bursting-out event on April 17th, Easter!

What an earth-shattering impact Good Friday had on our world. ‘Good’ because Jesus Christ’s death nearly 2,000 years ago paved the way for millions, if not billions of people down the centuries to find the life, freedom and hope he offers to those who believe he died in their place.

As spring bursts upon us, the sheer joy of Easter Day will burst into life in our lives again.

Jesus – God on earth, who came for us, is alive from the dead!

Just as those who have known and trusted him during their lives will come alive after they die.

The original Easter really was the CRUX of history, the most important thing that ever happened on earth; God with us, dying in our place. What looked like a defeat, was actually a thunderous victory. That’s why Peter the outdoorsy, outspoken fisherman was convinced enough to stand up in front of the Temple police and religious chiefs and say, ‘This Jesus, who you rejected, is the only hope. No other name has been or will be given to us by which we can be saved…only this one.’ Acts 4:12

How good it is to be as sure of that truth as we are that Spring is really here! Ruth Guy