There is Life in the Dying

     Rounding the corner into our development, I notice the abundance of green leaves shimmering in the afternoon sunlight. At first, I'm mesmerized by the beauty of the tree-lined street. Then it hits me as I catch a glimpse of a few barren branches hiding behind the bounty of spring's green adorned trees.

     Wasn't it just last week or two weeks ago that this same street looked bleak? Trees stripped of their glory resembled petrified sticks protruding from the ground. They proclaimed that death was reigning where life once had bloomed.

Our once frozen barren lemon tree is alive with healthy leaves

Now, as if the harsh winter freeze had never choked life from our desert, these trees quivered in the gentle breeze. The message was clear. Life had risen from the scars of death. It had broken free from the stranglehold of what once sapped the life from creation.

The Easter triumph. Life has conquered death--even in creation. Isn't this why we celebrate Easter in the springtime. God's creation surrounding us sings loudly of the victory. His victory over the grip of death in each of our lives. The grip imposed by sin, untangled by Jesus.

The dove has left her nest--scared away perhaps. Just a feather remains. Life will be hatched elsewhere.

     It seems that all around me, death has screamed its gruesome chant. I feel it try to grip me with fear. The passing of a friend. The sickness of another. A relative teeters on the edge of this life.

     Yet the Lord says to me, "Remember I have overcome."

   "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die..." John 11:25-26 NIV

     "...he will swallow up death forever." Isaiah 25:8a NIV

     "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive." 1 Corinthians 15:22 NIV

     "'Where, O death, is your victory?
     Where, O death, is your sting?'
     "The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is in the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 NIV

     His victory springs forth hope in my heart. And all creation recognizes His life.