Inspired by Sweeping

I love Spring.  Not so much hot weather, but nice sunny cool days that make you want to soak up as much Vitamin D as possible.  Its always a nice treat to see new life emerging from underneath the bare, desolate, "dead" world or so it seems.  Today is turning into one of those days pretty quickly.  I awoke this morning to the sound of birds chirping and the sun shining through my window. 


My deck has been hiding under piles of crunchy, brown leaves since the fall.  There was really no use in sweeping it because it would have ended right  back under the leaves.  This week it was my goal to get the deck clean.  Nevermind that its now Thursday and I am just getting to this task.  So, I put John in his exersaucer and out the door we went to discover what was underneath all those leaves.


While I was sweeping, I was looking around at all the trees beginning to crack open with the promise of new life and beautiful things to come.  I know this may sound strange but I began to wonder if it "hurts" the trees to be strained until they crack.  We all know that in order for the beauty to come, the cracks are necessary.  It also made my mind wander to Christ.  In order for the beauty of the resurrection and our salvation to come about the "cracks" (i.e. the cross) were present then as well.  During the journey of our lives, God wants us to be beautiful as well.  We hide under our piles of leaves and bare limbs until He makes us crack or sweeps us off to reveal the beauty He always intended for us to have.  This process may not always be painless, infact it may just be some of the most painful experiences we will ever indure.  Sometimes all we may need is a sweep but more often than not, we require a really hard crack.  We do however  have a hope that He promisedthat we will have beauty and peace in the end.  I have had some of the most ugly, tattered, torn rose bushes give me the most fragrant, vivid colored roses I have ever seen.


So, before you decide to sweep the deck, remember it may get you to thinking but you may make some pretty interesting discoveries along the way.