browns, grays and greens

there is green-ness everywhere these days. all along our drive it's been green. green fields. green trees. green road signs even.

(we'll stick with thinking about the green LIVING things for the sake of this entry.)

green is a sign of life. richness. health.
maybe that's part of why people spend so much money to have gardens and houseplants and trees in their yards and nice grass.
maybe it helps us to feel alive.

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there's a stretch of I-81 that i used to drive from harrisonburg to winchester when i was in graduate school. it was winter when i travelled that road daily to the hospital for my internship. as i was driving home one day, i was particularly aware of how dull things looked. browns and grays. not many signs of life anywhere.

and i got to thinking about the trees that day. about how they all looked dead with no leaves, bare branches. but really, that's all that it was: they just LOOKED dead. they weren't really dead, just bare. trees don't die in the winter, they just lose their green-ness.

and i thought about my life. my walk with the Lord. this journey of learning to love. how there are times that i look (and feel) like those trees in the winter. i look (and feel) dead.

but the reality is that i'm not.

i may be stripped bare. i may be exposed to cold and wind. all of my green may be gone. but i am not dead.

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the reality is that, in Christ, we are alive. and once we are made alive by His grace, we are kept in that state for eternity. we struggle thru times of exposure to the elements of life that leave us looking (and often feeling) like the trees in winter. but we must know the reality: we are still alive. as much as we may not feel it or see it or look like it.

and the amazing thing is that the Lord can take us in those times of brokenness and restore us. He can bring back our green-ness. and He delights to do it.

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the greens of the past few days have reminded me of all of this. that we have a God that makes us new. alive. and then He goes the distance and sustains that life.

and from the browns and grays, He brings forth greens.

green is a sign of life. richness. health.

"sustain me according to your promise, and I will live . . ." --psalm 119