It was sparse and dead in some areas, tall and plush green in others. After a season of freezing temperatures, my lawn had died, as it does every winter. But now spring had come, and the promise of warm summer temperatures. The unevenness of my lawn was slightly irritating to my orderly, slightly obsessive nature. So I brandished my weed wacker, subduing the vegetation that tried to invade on my sidewalk. Then I went spelunking into the dark recesses of our storage area (the old dog kennel), and rediscovered my lawn mower, forgotten since last fall. With a little bit of maintenance, it faithfully answered my repeated tugs on its cord with the thunderous whirring of its blade. As I pushed the mower around the yard, it did more than just “mow the lawn”. As it cut away old dead grass, and repelled brown crispy leaves and small twigs, it seemed to give the lawn new life. The dead slumber of the winter was disappearing, and vibrant life was returning. This transition from death to life continued on with trimming of bushes, trees, and then casting everything dead onto a pile in the back, which will go up in flames before the burn ban commences.
You see, in order for new life to grow, the old dead stuff must be done away with. This is true whether it’s seasons, grass, rose bushes, trees, or your own life. It can certainly be a lot easier to bring “new life” to a yard than to our own lives, but thankfully, we’re not on our own to make that happen. Jesus says in John 15:1-2, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit”. God is in the business of bringing new life out of death. We can see it in the changing of seasons from winter to spring, and very soon we’ll be reminded of this fact on Easter morning.
Now, you may be distracted by chocolate bunnies, yellow peeps, and cute lambs with pink bows around their necks, but make no mistake – God is not concerned with pastel colors. He wants to bring life to old, dead bones. Don’t believe me? Take a look in the empty tomb and then join Mary in seeing the Resurrected Jesus. She mistook Him for the gardener (John 15:20).
