Spring issues us with an invitation to come alive. Winter’s hibernation slumber is over. it’s time to embrace the new and the next. But are we ready? It’s all too easy to become lethargic.
Though our mind and body may protest, feeling like we’re being tugged into a season we’re ill-prepared for, we all need a holy prod sometimes to remind us how to come alive to God, especially while we walk this Lenten pathway.
Resurrection life awaits us with the dawn of each new day. Every moment is an opportunity to engage with the holy. Every hour can speak out wonder for souls alive enough on the inside to be alert to God’s continual presence with us.
I have been thinking along these lines for my magnetic poetry offerings today, because I long for sufficient sensitivity to sense earth stirring, sap rising and God’s new life being reborn in me as I look to Him to provide for all my needs, and as I seek the eternal sunshine wonder of His glorious face each day.
Alive like wild rain
Follow ancient path’s water cycle
Stroll soft and long; climb quietly
and breathe pure, soul-sweet spring
air above daffodil-deep sanctuary
Rest and feel alive like wild rain
blanketing grass with its wet shade
©joylenton
Slow cloud joy
Here they devour slow cloud joy in
eternity’s liquid night-drink sky, and
wake—laughing soft—with the morning
like velvet prisoner’s in poetry’s home
as God gives His sacred time picture
of life’s warm and wild secret colours
©joylenton
Maybe we can learn to love our everyday, ordinary lives, and come alive to possibility and potential in the midst of pain and problems. Just as we marvel over spring flowers emerging from dusty, barren ground, we can watch those things we felt were dying or dead suddenly regain new shoots of life before our very eyes.
Eyes of faith see beyond the temporary and ache to experience the eternal in the temporal, the profound in the prosaic. Those with resurrection Hope etched into their souls learn to be aware and willing to receive the next thing God has planned for them.
We can have hope because God’s resurrection life pulses through our veins, rendering the ordinary mundane a work of extraordinary art and grace. Will you join me in deliberately looking for signs of resurrection life within and without and focusing on what is most alive in us in this season?
Poetry Joy 
“Resurrection life awaits us with the dawn of each new day. Every moment is an opportunity to engage with the holy.” I have been thinking along these lines, too, Joy. In fact I started a magnetic poetry poem but couldn’t seem to make the words work. So I copied what I had and decided to write my own poem without the kit. I haven’t finished yet, but we’ll see where it goes.
I love your poetry offerings today. God is so good in the midst of all of life, even the hard times, and I want to be aware of His beauty and leading in my life all through the day. Blessings to you my dear sister/poet/friend!! xoxo
Gayl, I know just how frustrating this can be: “I started a magnetic poetry poem but couldn’t seem to make the words work”, because word wrangling is even more evident when we rely on the whims of magnetic poetry’s offering. I frequently have to let go of an idea or rearrange a few words as they appear to shape themselves differently then I’d hoped or anticipated!
Thankfully, Holy Spirit inspiration breathes new life into our poetic imagery and we soon discover a fresh thought begins to present itself. I advise keeping the scraps. You never know when they might be needed! I’m hanging on to your words here: “God is so good in the midst of all of life, even the hard times, and I want to be aware of His beauty and leading in my life all through the day.” May it be so, my friend. May you see and sense the beauty threading through poetry and all else besides. May blessings of peace and inspiration surround you. Love and hugs to you, sweet sister/poet/friend! xoxo
Dear Joy, thank you so much for your encouraging words here. I appreciate you so much! Love and hugs! xo
Gayl, you are warmly welcome, dear friend! I appreciate you greatly too. Blessings, love and hugs! xox ❤
Lovely and life-giving, Joy—just what I needed on this all-too-gray morning. Thanks for pressing onward, and inward, despite all obstacles, allowing heaven to clothe you in hope that feels contagious . . . even miles and miles away. 🙂
Laurie, I’m so thankful to have been given words which speak hope, life and consolation into your soul. These are such wearying days for both of us as we observe the stages of recovery taking place, our eyes ever vigilant for the slightest hint of improvement in our menfolk. I pray they are also days of rejoicing in God’s sustaining and healing power, His joy in the midst of the hard, His rest and peace when we need it and His grace woven into every circumstance we may face. Your faith and desire to see brightness and maintain a wonderful sense of humorous lightness in the darkest of days is contagious, and makes me smile from these many miles away… Blessings to you and yours and gentle, loving hugs. xo ❤
I feel like you just hugged me, friend.
Wearying days, check; hypervigilance, check; hope, CHECK!!!
You are steadfast and lovingly valiant—a glimpse of Jesus, for me.
Consider yourself hugged, my friend! Laurie, although I fervently wish wearying days and hypervigilance weren’t part of your life, I love how you put ‘CHECK’ in capitals next to hope. It suggests the predominance of it in your days. May it ever be so. I see steadfastness and valiance in you too. God is definitely at work in your home, especially Batman’s Cave! xo ❤
Dear Joy,
What a beautiful offerings here today! And this: “We can have hope because God’s resurrection life pulses through our veins” is another phrase for my Biblical Art Journal! I am so amazed at the way that God continues to pull us along into His Seeing of Beauty and Wonder. I think He hears our deep cries to “breathe pure, soul-sweet spring” and finds special moments to show us that, in the middle of every day, if we would only pause to see. Thank you for your encouragement Dear Friend, to keep pausing and to keep looking up. And thank you for allowing God to speak through your words even when the days are long and weary! Much Blessings, Hugs and Love to you. xoxo
Dear Bettie, I hope you’re better at drawing the circulatory system than I was as a student nurse…lol! Joking aside, I am honoured to have these thoughts transcribed in your Biblical Art Journal. And this: “I am so amazed at the way that God continues to pull us along into His Seeing of Beauty and Wonder” suggests our Holy Hound of Heaven pursuing us with wild abandon and lavish love, eager for us to hold onto the leash and see where it leads, while He sniffs out and unearths more goodies for us to behold, especially those that lie beneath the surface of things. Yes, my days, like yours, are long and weary, but they cannot fail to be touched by God. He has marvellously strengthened me to write, even if I need recovery time before I can come back and answer comments! I’m so grateful for your prayers and sweet presence here. Blessings, love and hugs to you! xoxo
I sense an underlying weariness in you, Joy. And yet a desperate clinging to the hope there is in Jesus. That precious hope because “God’s resurrection life pulses through our veins.” Hope because of the “sunshine wonder of His glorious face.” Hope because of the soul-sweet sanctuary we have in Him. Thank you for this beautiful offering of encouragement. I hope you and your husband are doing better. Love and hugs to you!
Oh, Trudy, how beautifully perceptive of you! I hadn’t quite realised how weary I was, but your words have made me more aware of just how much I am pushing myself these days, and how great an effect it’s having on me physically. Today is one of increasing fatigue and pain. I think more rest is definitely called for! I also do have this: “a desperate clinging to the hope there is in Jesus” in abundance. Thank you so much for your kind concern. It seems my husband is still improving slowly, praise God! He was even able to cook a meal for us at the end of last week. Though his wife is doing rather less well herself and is flagging considerably. I may need to take a social media/blogging break if this continues, although I love to write when inspiration strikes. Bless you for caring, dear friend. Love and hugs returned to you! xox
THIS: “Resurrection life awaits us with the dawn of each new day. Every moment is an opportunity to engage with the holy. Every hour can speak out wonder for souls alive enough on the inside to be alert to God’s continual presence with us.”
Thank you for highlighting those words, Tara. They’re ones I need to pay attention to and value a reminder of. Life itself can make us less attentive to the holy in our midst. Let’s aim to be “alive enough on the inside” to God’s presence, even if our minds and bodies are weary and wilting! Bless you, friend. xo
Your words my friend. Can I say how much they encourage my heart? This.. “Maybe we can learn to love our everyday, ordinary lives, and come alive to possibility and potential in the midst of pain and problems. Just as we marvel over spring flowers emerging from dusty, barren ground, we can watch those things we felt were dying or dead suddenly regain new shoots of life before our very eyes.” This is where I am, walking into spring carrying a heavy weight yet longing for growth. Thank you!
Oh yes, Barbie, I love to hear how my words encourage others! It’s why we write and what we hope for, isn’t it? I’m so sorry you are carrying a heavy weight, my friend, though I’m pleased it hasn’t stopped you from “longing for growth.” May you be able to hand the burden over to our Saviour and find the sweet release of His rest and peace. I pray hope will flower in your heart, more and more with each passing day. Remember that much of our growth, just like bulbs sitting in the ground, is imperceptible to us, often hidden beneath the surface of things. Then with the right timing and conditions, it becomes apparent to us as well as to others. Sending prayer, blessings, love and gentle hugs your way. xo ❤
I’ve always enjoyed seeing the message of the resurrection in the transition from winter to spring! death to life! Amen!
Hi Karen, it’s lovely to meet you! Yes, the season of spring ties in beautifully with the resurrection message, because we see what once appeared to be dead rising to newness of life before our eyes. Thanks for stopping by! Blessed you. 🙂
Reblogged this on Pastor Michael Moore's Blog and commented:
Another hope-filled blog, Joy ❤
Michael, I’m so pleased you found hope here, my friend. Thank you for sharing this post with your readers! Bless you. 🙂 ❤
Michael, I am honoured to have my words shared with your readers. Thank you, friend! xo