There’s something about Spring, about seeing the new life bud forth that instills in us a sense of hope.
When I walked to my favorite spot in our backyard, I looked up at the green leaves sprouting from our orange tree. But what I desperately wanted to see was some sign of an orange blossom, no matter how small. I crooked my neck back, staring into the twisted branches, just hoping that our tree would hold the promise of a fall harvest of oranges.
     It’s a spring ritual–a trek I make each year across our small green patch of lawn to gaze upward into the citrus trees in our backyard. I’m looking for the new life, the promise that this fall I can expect something about life to be the same. There will be joy if there are blossoms. So many things in life change, and we just need assurance that something we have always expected to occur will once again bear fruit for us. It gives rhythm to our lives.
     With my neck craned and my eyes searching, I found a bud–the tiniest burst of a promise. I scanned longer and found some larger buds crowned in white. As I came around the tree, I found a gold mine of hope. My heart soared, as hope welled up within me.
     When we hunger for hope and none is blossoming around us, when we long for something in our life to remain the same–stable, when we are looking for new life, we will find it all in Jesus.

     “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” Lamentations 3:23-24 NIV 

     What hope has the Lord shown you?