Harbinger

Father God,

Somewhere out in the dark of this early morning I hear a bird. Insistently twittering and trilling. What she sees in the dark I am not sure, but this morning this little bird is a harbinger. She tells me that eventually winter will give sway to spring.

Weeks ago I prayed about winter. I know you heard me, but the season didn’t immediately change. Actually it got a little worse. But the winter must ride out its course; it must finish its work readying us, preparing us for what is ahead.

We romanticize everything it seems. We look back and see selective memories and impressions through tinted glasses. We often forget that with spring comes the rains and the tornado warnings. And the mud. Yes, spring brings life and green, but then that life and green needs mowing and pruning.

Father, helps us live lives void of our warped romanticisms. Instead help us to embrace the true reality that is in you. Show us how to see our seasons. How to see backwards without sabotaging our forwards.

Your calling beckons us.

Sometimes we know what to do with that calling and other times we don’t. Sometimes we embrace it with fervor, sometimes we are sleepily apathetic and other times we run like hell is on our heels—scared to death of what this calling will require.

Father, this morning I pray for your people. Help us to wait out these last strands of winter. Enable us (me) to be patient as you unravel and untangle them. Let their last bit of work soften us. Father, I pray we would look for spring, but to realize that in every season you have a purpose—one to prosper us and not to harm us. Plans to give us hope.

Father, I pray for your people this morning as they struggle with the last ribbons of snow on the edges of their yards. I pray for your people as they battle with the cold that still hangs heavily in the air. Instead, just for a moment, help us hear the birds talking and chattering in the early morning dawn. For just a moment help us to translate their phrases and fragments of their lyrical language.

Spring is coming. A new season is about to arrive.

We want to be ready, Father.

Amen