The robins are building their nests and moving into our many birdhouses around our yard. The ultra-green daffodil plants are 10 inches tall now, and I cannot wait for the blooms to burst forth. The yellow forsythia bush is in full bloom. I brought in some cuttings and placed them in a vase on our dining room table for Easter, and they are still fresh. The tulip bulbs Addie and I planted last October have shot through the ground and soon will be colorful happy bunches spread through my yard in several flowers gardens. The emerald green pasture is now dotted with pairs of mamas and babies with more cute little romping calves on the way. Mr. Farmer is bottle feeding one now, as I write, who got off to a slow start. Spring has sprung and there is new life everywhere you look in this beautiful rural Iowa countryside. I LOVE it!!
I suspect corn planting will begin in another day or so. The guys are preparing the equipment, checking to see if every little thing is in working order. Once they are at the starting line, they want to go full-speed ahead to the finish line, with no interruptions…..no distractions! In planting, the window of opportunity is quite small, if you think about it. Between Spring rains and pre-emergent spraying and drying off of the soil, and ground temperature and being careful not to work the land too early….. well…. it gets tricky! Anyway, there are so many details to consider. Honestly, I don’t know how they do it all. We continually asking for the Lord’s help.
New life. Coincidentally, yesterday’s Sunday school lesson was on new life. New life vs. the old life. New man vs. the old man. We camped out in Ephesians chapter 4. Here, Paul is talking to the Gentiles who had made the decision to believe the gospel and to surrender their lives to Christ. He was telling them to no longer conduct their lives as they had in their “old life”, for they now had “new life” in Christ Jesus.
New life: Life In Christ vs. Life without Christ
Without “new birth”(John chapter 3), there is no new life. One must be born again. That is Christianity. Born into an inheritance that cannot spoil or fade. Born into an inheritance that no one can pluck out.
Paul tells the new followers of Christ to rid themselves of the old man’s ways: Bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander and malice and adopt these virtues: kindness, tenderheartedness and forgiving one another.
New life doesn’t come by being born into a Christian family or community or nation. New life doesn’t come from abiding by a set of rules and regulations… from joining a church. New life in Christ comes by decision making. I hope you have made that decision to be a Christ-follower and have experienced new life, for the spring flowers and emerald green grass and romping, playful calves, and happy birds are not even a minuscule drop in the bucket as compared to the thrill of the thankful soul who has trusted Christ as Savior and put on the garment of new life.
Today is the perfect day to make that decision.
