When You’re Longing for Spring

My daughter asked for strawberries in her yogurt the other day. Knowing that we didn’t have any, I walked to the fridge and started to think about what I could give her instead. Our fridge sits next to the window overlooking the valley that our city rests in. From the window you can see clear to the other side of the valley and beyond to the snow-peaked mountains that once hosted the Olympics.

As I took in the view, my heart longed for something other than white and grey. I longed for sunshine and budding trees. I longed to look out my office window into the open air market and see a variety of colors when berry season is in full swing. For a moment, I even longed for the sparrows that nest in our eaves and leave presents on my car. It was the kind of longing that starts right behind your sternum and leaves you hungry. It has been a long winter is what I’m sayin’.

My daughter settled for apple cinnamon yogurt and reminded me that spring will come soon. But to my utter shock and amazement, the next day, what should I find in OUR grocery store? Strawberries!!! Imported fruit out of season!!! My mouth is still watering. I cannot remember feeling the longing for the change of season this keenly before. Especially before we moved here.

I got to wondering what spring would feel like to someone who had lived in winter their entire life. Would they even know what a beautiful thing a strawberry is? My conclusion after some thought was that indeed they would. In fact, the contrast between cold and grey and warm and bright would make them appreciate it even more than someone who had grown up with access to fresh fruit from their own backyard all year around! And yet we have something far better than strawberries in season. We have hope eternal.

Thanks be to God that he created all of us with a longing to know Him. Even if the people of this city don’t know how to Know Him through His Son (yet!!) they are wired to desire it.

So yes, it has been a long winter, but I live with a hope that will outlast any season or an ice age for that matter. A hope that brings new life. Please pray that the Father would direct us to the people in this city that are longing to put their hope in something eternally good.