Springtime

In springtime, I wince at the sight of a deer
That lies by the side of our street.
But sorrow is instantly blended with cheer–
A daffodil grows at its feet!

Creation is groaning while clapping its hands.
Its cycles continue to teach
That death is the seed in God’s glorious plan.
Yet harvest feels so out of reach.

We weep with the ache of a life gone too soon,
Rejoice with the gift of new birth,
Perceiving the womb was the baby’s cocoon,
Not thinking the same of the earth.

We speak as if death is where everything ends–
This could not be more of a lie!
Are we still so blind that we can’t comprehend?
It’s simply the last battle cry–

Before we burst into that glorious place
To see what by faith we believed,
To enter our Savior’s eternal embrace,
To never again be bereaved.

The deer will decay and return to the dust;
The daffodil grows from the same.
The God of this cycle is One we can trust,
For death His own Son overcame

So go out in joy and be led forth in peace!
The mountains are singing their song!
The Lord who gives breath and allows it to cease
Holds you in His hand all along.

---

“Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.”
–Martin Luther

“For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”
Romans 8:22

“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of all mankind.”
Job 12:7–10

“For you shall go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”
Isaiah 55:12

---

Image by Aaron Burden