Springtime in Pennsylvania has a way of sneaking up on you. At first, the restoration process begins with only a few small buds. Soon, the fresh growth spreads like a virus all throughout the vast rolling woodlands as the hills become like a chameleon turning a lively green. In only a few weeks, what once looked completely dead and barren transforms into a rich ecosystem buzzing with life.

The annual revolution of new life during the spring has always amazed and comforted me. With great anticipation of summer, I spent my last days of every school year gazing outside daydreaming about the last day of school as the smell of fresh cut grass drifted up my nostrils. As I’ve grown up and begun to play golf, spring means being able to hit the course again after each year’s winter hiatus. Accompanying that first round are always cordial temperatures and flowering trees hugging the glistening fairways. These are just a few things that I love about the spring.

In these moments, we very seldom think of how temporary the lives of these new plants really are. All of us know the impending decay awaiting this new growth once fall comes, but momentarily forget as spring fever courses through us. Even the beautiful flowers on most trees only last a few weeks until they fall to the ground and are abruptly replaced by plain, boring green leaves.

The season to enjoy the fruitfulness brought on by warmer weather is a gift from God, but it does show us more than just God’s creative hand. Just as these blossoms last only for a season, a man’s days are numbered and “like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more” (Psalms 103:15-16). Our lives don’t last forever.

Daily, through experience, we learn about the temporal nature of our world. If you’re like me, this doesn’t sit well with you. I want things to last and I don’t like change. I’m undergoing the life-long learning process to appreciate and embrace change rather than dread it. To learn that a change in the metaphorical seasons of life can also be a gift is to gain wisdom.

But I won’t give up that desire for something that isn’t here today and gone tomorrow because I wasn’t built for that. Nobody was. We were made to desire something that lasts.

This desire shows us that this isn’t all there is. Temporary pleasures, like spring, are great but are not the end all be all. We settle for less when we are consumed with the here and now rather than pursuing this inner yearning for more. The cost of gaining this world by falling in love with things and feelings is our very own soul.

Just as the coming of spring made my young body squirm to get out and play in the summer heat, the hard lessons reality brings make me that much more excited for eternity with my immutable Father. So, as we enjoy the works of his hand this spring season, we would do well to think about the long-term and consider our own insufficiencies that point to our need for someone to be our guide and healer. The one and only Jesus Christ.

The following scripture was referenced throughout this blog. Please check these wonderful truths out for yourself!

James 4:14 – How quickly things change

Mark 8:36 – Gain the world and lose your soul.

Philippians 4:19 – Jesus meeting all our needs.