March…spring is here! This reminds me of some lovely fragrant and beautiful flowers that bloom in spring. Namely, snowdrops and lilacs. I can’t enjoy these flowers where I live, but at least I can see pictures of them. When my family and I were missionaries in Romania, we used to see little snowdrops coming out of the snow when it thawed and the weather became warmer…the birds would chirrup in the trees…as spring continued….a waft of sweet lilac would drift your way as you walked down the sidewalk near a lilac bush blooming in somebody’s yard and spilling over the fence. Those were times when you felt that truly the cold of winter was weakening.

 I put these two images together, because I think these flowers go so well as a pair. Don’t you?

“You shall rejoice in the Lord, and glory in the Holy One of Israel”
(Isaiah 41:16)

The verse above struck me while I was doing my daily reading sometime ago in Isaiah, and I thought it would be a good match with the picture. Spring often brings happines in our lives and joy that there is newness, warm weather, the hope of summer time.  Yet our deepest joy and glory should be in the Lord. It reminds me of a song that starts with this phrase: “I will glory in my Redeemer”. What a beautiful statement!

And when we do that, God brings blessings in our lives….just as the rest of the passage in Isaiah describes how God will renew and bless the creation in the Millenial Kingdom.

“I will open rivers in desolate heights,
And fountains in the midst of the valleys;
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
And the dry land springs of water.
I will plant in the wilderness the cedar and the acacia tree,
The myrtle and the oil tree;
I will set in the desert the cypress tree and the pine
And the box tree together,

That they may see and know,
And consider and understand together,
That the hand of the Lord has done this,
And the Holy One of Israel has Created it.”
(Isaiah 41:18-20)

Snowdrops source: Matt Banks