Praise about new things

Dear Lord,

Thank you for the beauty of the four seasons
and for the privilege of living in a place that experiences all of them.
Today is the first day of spring.

Of course, it’s raining.
But that’s okay.
Rain is the evidence that you are working in the world,
that you are changing, growing, and creating
new things,
even the predictable flowers like daffodils and crocuses
and the less-predictable flowers like tulips
(why don’t mine come up more than once?).

You bring deer into my yard to rest.
You paint breath-taking sunsets across the horizon in the evening.
The cherry and pear trees are bursting with white and pink, cheerful and radiant.
The world smells of earth and grass and mulch.
Clean, fresh, and vibrant.

Why do you take the trouble with colorful details?

Because you long to reveal yourself to us.
Your blessings are new every morning.
You love to remind us that you are constant and yet inventive.
Your creation is not thwarted by our neglect or destruction of the beautiful world you’ve made for us.
Your love for us remains true, faithful, everlasting.

Spring signals that you haven’t forgotten us,
that your have new and beautiful plans for us,
that if we have faith, we will watch magnificence unfold around us.

What new things are you planning for me?
What will you create next?
What will you resurrect from the winter of my life?

I praise you and thank you.
What an amazing God you are!

Amen.

“And he who sits on the throne says, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ And he said, ‘Write, for these words are faithful and true.’ “–Revelation 21:3