Fall scares me. Not the creepy costumes, sticky spider webs or glucose overdose. What gives me a chill is that the days ahead will be short, dark and cold. And sometimes lonely. But this year is different. I am not afraid.
Two years ago I looked outside at the drippy cold November day. I felt damp inside. Overwhelmed. As the rain poured off the rhododendrons, I was not sure if I could endure one more depressing winter. Suddenly in my memory flashed a springy burst of bright scarlet blooms! It was as if the Lord was saying, “Don’t be afraid. Spring is coming.” And it did.
That vivid scarlet vision, wrapped in His timeless promises, carried me through. I learned that when I sit with the Lord in the dark in my pain, HE IS THERE. Just as He promised. Now each year at this time I refresh my memory with that hope filled spring image. It helps not only for the impending physical and emotional winters ahead in this life, but also for the moments I doubt my eternal future.
Each of us chooses who or what we hang our soul on. My trust is not in the rhododendrons, but in the One Who made them. The only solid actual historical event worthy of my trust is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That was a real physical manifestation of God’s boundless love for us. And just as I believe that He died and rose again for me, so I hang all the weight of my soul and my future on that fact.
As the bright scarlet rhododendron gives me hope for a coming spring, so the blood of Jesus gives me hope for an inconceivably amazing future with my Lord.
And even if the flowers do not bloom, or if _____ (fill in the blank)…, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation! (Habakkuk 3:17-19)
I am not afraid. He is my hope!
