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By Jacob Banta
Maybe spring is not your thing. All that rain can be a bit much. But of course it is necessary for growth. For me at least spring is amazing and I am not completely sure why. I really did not have a favorite season until recently. I found things enjoyable about each season. Each unique for its own reason. I did have a preference for the warm weather months because it meant that nature was green and the sun would shine brightly. So what really makes spring special? Could it simply be the flowers and green that I previously described. Well you’ll really find similar attributes in summer or even autumn. I have come to realize that the real reason I admire spring is because of the reality of life brought from death.
The melancholy of winter is real. The cold days coupled with grey skies and dead grass create a sense of longing within me for better times. At least normally winter is a time to enjoy the companionship of friends and families indoors and focus on self growth. This year between covid and college I have been more busy and felt more alone. It has been a draining season leaving me worn out. But O the revival of spring rings true. The light of the sun is good for a weary soul. A nice walk outside with the warmth of that same sun rejuvenates the body. The wonderful and divine design of spring is evident. The purposeful creation of the seasons and especially of spring speak to the power and creativity of our creator.
How beautiful are the actions of God. How meticulous is the LORD in designing each and every flower. How good is God that He returns life to nature each year. Through Spring the creator shows a marvelous reflection of himself through his creation. More than any physical beauty, spring hints at the wonderful mystery of God’s plan of redemption for His image bearer’s and the earth itself. What is dead will be made alive. Just as spring takes dead things and makes them new again, God through the sacrifice of Christ takes dead men and makes them alive. Only by spring do the flowers bloom and only by the blood of Christ is man made new and brought back into relationship with God. Spring is but a foretaste of how God saves man and how he will restore the earth.
I write these things coming out of a difficult season of doubt and weariness. Life is difficult for all and some of us may be walking through the most difficult and exhaustive waters of our lives right now. But I write with pure joy that alone comes from God. I am reminded of God’s grace not only through the onset of spring, but through new friends who have accepted Christ into their lives. How beautiful it is to watch a cold heart of stone be made new and sprout life. I count all the trials of life as pure joy to see just one person saved from himself. I write these things so that you might see that nothing is an accident. Everything and everyone is wonderfully and beautifully made for a purpose.
May the rising of this new spring sun carry us on.
“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” - C.S. Lewis
Jacob Banta is a McConnell Scholar in the class of 2024. He is studying mechanical engineering and political science at the University of Louisville.