Upheld In Eternal Hope

It sure seems like Winter will never leave. For Pete’s sake! It’s March! We should be braving the winds and flying kites and here we are: still watching snowflakes drift to the ground. Yes, more and more of them. Even as I write this.

It ought not to be—we are very ready for a change!

However, I did get to go for a walk earlier today and the sun shone through my entire walk. It felt heavenly on my face.

The Sun Behind The Tree

Sun rays blazed through a tree in my front yard and made me think of hope. For a short time blue skies and brilliance prevailed. Then, the clouds folded in once more and the snow fell again. All this in a day. Yes, Winter is still grasping at us. But in spite of late season snowfalls, Spring is right behind the tree.

Hope is embodied in the sun’s vividness. It’s bright. It’s clear. And eventually, it will be warm and bring forth flowers and vegetables and beautiful vistas to rest our eyes. As the song goes, one season following another.

And life continues on.

Eternal Hope

As I gazed at that tree, it brought to mind three trees from Scripture.

The first tree is the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden. This is the one that caused our weariness and suffering. The one that ushers in the Winter of the Soul through the gate of our own sin. It grasps at us. And it lasts far beyond the season set for it—doesn’t that seem so?

The second tree held the Body of our Savior, Jesus. He came from the Father above to save us from the darkness and the weariness and the sin that held us captive. He is the Bridge between Winter and Spring. The sun begins to shine.

At last we behold the Tree of Life in heaven. A tree loaded with fruit and healing in it’s leaves, living water gushing around and through it. More than a promise, our Savior takes us to gaze upon it and partake of its eternal nourishment.

Finally—the Son!

Now, as I finish up writing this blog, the snowflakes have disappeared and the sun once again shines on our white landscape. Yet the trees are green—not crystal encrusted. In parts of the vast sky, wispy clouds drift in blue.

Yes.

Eternal Hope.

“In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” Revelation 22:2.