March 2025 Welcoming Spring and Trusting God

In middle Tennessee, it’s blooming and becoming green. The official start of spring was a little over a week ago on March 20, and at least where I am and at least this year, the spring season was evident by then. Every day here more begins to bloom, and the days seem brighter. Maybe that’s not just wishful thinking, since the first day of spring also means officially that every day thereafter for a few months gets a bit longer until we reach those long days of summer.

However, for me, the official start of the season hasn’t always felt like spring.

Decades ago, in the Chicago area where I grew up and where I got married, our wedding date was the second official day of spring, so we optimistically used a spring theme for our day. Of course, up there and back then, one mostly hoped it would have stopped snowing by the time spring arrived.

Recently we celebrated a milestone anniversary with our family. In digging out old things, this service program cover was rediscovered. More of the verses celebrating love and spring are::

Song of Songs 2: 11-12a, NIV

We periodically take a moment on Saturdays to share some thoughts that aren’t primarily about promoting books. Today is one of those days.

I’m feeling a bit reflective, personally overwhelmed with thanksgiving and aware of the blessings my family has received.

In any endeavor, one cannot tell at the beginning of a journey all we will encounter. All we can do is love and trust.

But there are other thoughts swirling in my brain as the first quarter of this year winds down.

Since the beginning of this year, our nation has experienced more than our fair share of fires, floods, tornadoes and many many types of change. There are vastly differing opinions about all of the governmental change, and we are still in the midst of all of that.

But spring is here. Nature’s blooms and warming sunshine remind us that God is still on His throne and has given us this beauty to enjoy as His children. The other side of nature, still coming in terrible power of wind and water, also reminds of God’s might and sovereignty. He and only He allows the earth to stand. Though the force of nature can be terrible, we are reminded that God can crush man, and no man is greater than Him.

For my part, I’m also reminded that I need to trust and be aware of my own sinful self and stay open and transparent with God.

You are probably familiar with the wonderful verses of Psalm 139 and its truths about God’s intimate knowledge and love for each of us.  Today it’s the end of that psalm that I’m focusing on as we move into the rest of this year:

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Psalm 139: 23-24, NIV

As we begin the second quarter of the year and plan for new ways of promoting books and telling people about the messages God has given us to share, let the soft beauty of spring and the world greening up around us be a reminder that whether in might or in gentleness, His is the power and the dominion, and He is on the throne.