One of my favorite things about living in Illinois is the changing seasons. I love sitting outside on a hot summer night looking at the stars or picking the harvest of fresh vegetables from my garden. The crisp, cool nights in the fall and the changing colors of the leaves can’t be beat. The beauty of snow or ice on trees with the sun shining behind them creates an amazing winter wonderland. But I think that spring is my favorite season and it is HERE! My daffodils, hyacinths, and tulips are blooming. The songbirds are singing and I heard a Great Horned Owl and a Barred Owl the other night. The frogs have started croaking at night. The days are longer and the sunsets have been amazing. To me, spring is a time of rebirth and renewal. Flowers that we have not seen for a year are in bloom. Trees that lost their leaves last year are budding out. The geese and other birds are finding their mates, making their nests, and laying eggs.
Psalm 104 has to be for the nature, or changing seasons, lover like me. To say that it describes how God takes care of all living things on this planet in addition to the planet as well would be an understatement. The verse that catches my attention the most and makes me think of spring is verse 30. Psa. 104:30 When you send your Spirit, they (all the creatures) are created, and you renew the face of the earth.
There are over 7 billion humans on this planet, an estimated 9 million different species of living organisms all sharing a planet with a surface area of about 197 million miles squared and God can renew it all. That is a mind-blowing thought.
2 Cor 4:16-17 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. Despite everything going on around me, I am being renewed by God every day through my prayer, bible study, relationships, and for me, through nature. How are you letting God renew you?
Here are a couple of spring activities you can do with your kids: Take a box of crayons outside and have your kids find things that God made that match the color of the crayons. Watch a sunset with the kids then have them use water colors to paint their own.