“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

“For the Lord is good and His mercy endures forever.”

Though the times may seem hard and life may be rough, yet we have much to be thankful for. We can thank Him for each day He gives us and for the hope that we can have for tomorrow and for eternity. There is a song which says, “Because He lives I can face tomorrow and because He lives all fear is gone,” and I think how real that is. We can have that hope because God keeps His Word and will bring about everything He speaks.

The Bible tells us that, after the flood that God brought upon the earth because of the wickedness of mankind, Noah offered burnt offerings unto the Lord and it was pleasing to God. Then God said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.” This reminds me that although we are experiencing winter now, we are looking forward to spring truly believing without a doubt that it will come and, therefore, we are looking for the time when the snow and cold are gone, to a time when the earth brings forth new life and the beauty of spring and new life blossom around us.

This brings forth to my mind how we will be celebrating one of the greatest events in the history of mankind as we celebrate Easter. In our observance of Easter, we look at the fact that God sent His only begotten Son into the world to pay the penalty for the sins of all mankind. To do this He died to pay the penalty for our sins, “for the wages of sin is death.” He was buried and then on the third day He arose from the dead and was alive and brought new life and new hope. To me, this is what spring does — is bring that which was dead to life as we watch the beauty of life as spring unfolds and brings us into the beauty of summer.

Jesus said, “I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly.” This is the life that we can have as we come to Him and accept the great gift of life that we can have in Him, when we are brought out of death, spiritual separation from God, and are born again (new life in the Spirit) and come into the beauty of life and the hope that we can have in Him. New Life, because Christ died for our sins, was buried, but arose from the dead in newness of life and in Him we can also be raised in newness of life and the beauty and wonder of God can be seen in us just as we can see spring come with its beauty and new life. This is what Easter is all about and may you each one know the reality of it in your lives.