Written By Trudi Joynt
We are used to the saying ‘spring is in the air’ and this comes from another saying, ‘something is in the air’.
The MacMillian Dictionary definition of this saying is “used for saying that people all have a similar feeling, especially a feeling that something exciting or new is happening.”
It is not surprising that the spring season gets its name from the verb “spring”. It is an encouragement to the flowers and plants that it is time to spring up and burst into bloom. It always amazes me that we see buds forming on bushes, plants and trees often before we have our first spring rains.
In an article ‘Where the Seasons Get Their Names’ on the website https://www.southernliving.com the author says, “According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word itself derives from the Old English word “springan,” which means “to leap, burst forth, fly up; spread, grow.” It, in turn, developed from the Proto-Germanic “sprengan.” During the 14th century, the word came to describe the spring season, indicating the time when plants rise from their winter dormancy and bloom. An apt name, don’t you think? Prior to that, the word “Lent” was used to describe the season. Anatoly Liberman explains, “Today only the ecclesiastic sense of Lent is current, but in the past it was the main word for ‘spring.’ Lent surfaced as ‘lencten,’ that is, ‘lengten’: the season got its name because in spring days lengthen.”
Many people are living in the harsh reality that it does not feel like spring in their hearts today due to loss, disappointment and a longing for days gone by, when everything seemed normal. How often does one hear the term ‘new normal’? Yet you might feel, in the deepest part of your being, that you wish you could go back to things as they were, whatever that might mean for you.
One is often found at a loss of words as to how to encourage our friends that spring will come again, that the pain in some of our hearts will soften and that ultimately we do serve a God that is good and kind and loving.
There is a scripture in Habakkuk that encourages us to rejoice in the Lord.
Habakkuk 3:17-19 (NIV)
17 Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to tread on the heights.
For the director of music. On my stringed instruments.
We pray that in some way today you will feel or sense hope rising within you and that you will know that you are loved and cared for by a God who knows your inner most thoughts and feelings.
