Spring is arriving gently. Here in the Treasure Valley in Idaho we were fooled a bit by the unusually warm weather in January. It was mild for winter and I think we all thought it would continue that way straight through to spring. Instead February turned cold and we were below normal for that month and into March. Then it seemed like spring would never come. But it has. We’ve been in the mid-to-high 60’s and touching around 70 briefly. Daffodils and crocus have bloomed, and tulips are peeking through. There are even patches of green grass in some locations.
The best part for me is that I can finally get outside to walk and not be chilled to the bone by the cold and winds. Last week I walked in sunshine and my favorite walking temperatures. I love walking outside. That is a delight I’ve developed late in life. As a young person I didn’t particularly embrace exercise at all, even walking, and I wasn’t fond of the outdoors. Interesting how tastes can change as we age through the years.
I love God’s creation. I remember what God said about it in Gen 1:31: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”
I also remember that man’s fall affected not just mankind but all of creation. Paul in Romans explains that the creation now “waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed” so that it too can be “liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” [Rom 8:19-21]
When I walked this week and looked at the beauty of God’s creation around me, I could only wonder … if it looks like this when it is subject to decay, how magnificent will it be when it shares the glorious freedom of the children of God!
