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Spring is officially—and finally—here. This was a long and tough winter. February was the coldest in over 100
years. I have lived in New Jersey for
over thirty years, and I cannot remember ever seeing snow and ice on the ground
continuously for so long. And, we were
not the hardest hit by far. Communities
in many New England states lived with repeated blizzards and unmanageable snowfall.
Our winter brought to mind The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis’s well-known and
much-loved Narnia book. As the Pevensie children enter the world of
Narnia, they find themselves in a land that has been locked in a very long,
cruel winter by a wicked witch. As their
adventure begins, they learn about the witch’s evil curse; they also learn
about Aslan, the great and good ruler who has been absent from the land. As their adventure continues, signs of spring
bring rumors that “Aslan is afoot.”
I believe that long winters can teach us something very
important about our faith. Just as we
deal with the difficulties of winter knowing that spring is coming, so we can
deal with the difficulties of our lives knowing that Christ is returning and
that we have an eternal home with Him in heaven. This doesn’t mean that we that we hibernate
until spring; nor does it mean that we minimize hardship or live in
indifference to suffering in this world.
It does mean that we can put hardship and suffering in perspective. We take comfort in spring even as we layer on
winter clothing, help children repeatedly with snowsuits, boots, and mittens,
and shovel the driveway, again. Seeing
Narnia begin to thaw gave the Pevensie children encouragement to continue their
fight against the witch and her forces.
We are now looking to enjoy the beauties of spring and the
glories of summer, appropriately so. But
it would be wise for us to remain mindful that spiritually, our world remains
locked in a long, cruel winter. The
Jewish people waited several centuries between the writings of the last Old Testament
prophet and the appearance of John the Baptist, come to announce the appearance
of the Messiah. Millennia have passed
since Jesus ascended to heaven after His resurrection and after promising to
return. It has been a long spiritual
winter. Yet Jesus reminded His followers
to remain watchful for His return. Resurrection
and redemption are even more sure than spring after winter. At this moment, though, Satan is still a very
real enemy. But may the relief of spring
remind us to always be looking for signs that Aslan is afoot.
