{Be Real} Praise the Name.

People would argue that fall is the best season. With the golden colors and crisp air. The campfires and the flannel and that harvest smell.

But I’ve got a thing with spring. 

Winter feels personal to me. As in, I fight it every single day.

I spend much of my winter curled in a ball inside, pretending it’s not happening. The limited hours of sunlight make me sad and I don’t like doing anything outside for very long. Winter exhausts me, and I don’t cope with it all too well.

That’s why when spring comes, I’m elated. I’m the girl that goes outside and, seeing that the sun in shining, throws her hands to the sky and screams, “The sun!” (I’m not even exaggerating.)

I’m the girl that stops wearing a coat and socks about three weeks too early just because I think winter should be over.

I don’t know about where you live but in Illinois, the end of winter and beginning of spring can bring some crazy weather. This week we had what I’d call the first good day. The first day the weather is warm and spring can be felt in the air. You know that feeling, like you can smell the grass growing and feel the temperature daring to rise higher.

In the mornings, I wake up to birds playfully singing. Before I rush out of the house and into my car, I stand in the driveway a moment, looking up at the trees that have no life I can see, but listening to the life I can hear.

In the evenings, the sunsets have been gorgeous. I’ve found myself racing past the edge of the tree line to get a better glimpse, climbing on top of whatever I can find just to have the best view.

This morning, I went on a walk and noticed the apricot tree in my yard has little white flowers speckled with mahogany, such a bright contrast to the muddy brown of the rest of the world.

Everything is changing and nothing is certain. Yesterday it was sunny, last night it stormed, and today it’s been blue skies and a lot of wind.

But I love the way the world responds to the ferocity of the wind. You hear it rippling in the trees, an applause that echoes in waves.

Like something is stirring. 

That’s how I felt today. Something is stirring.

I think we all know what it means to live in a season of winter. We all know what it means to go from sunny days to stormy nights. We know what it is to live in seasons of darkness, of bitter cold, of hiding away lest our hearts become too weathered.

But praise the God who turns winter into spring.

Praise the God who brings the bloom after the cold and who breathes life into dry bones.

Praise the God who stirs lifeless trees into motion and stirs our hearts to echo back His song.

Praise the God who gives the birds a reason to sing and us a reason to do the same.

Praise the God who set the sun so we may rejoice at its light and who gave the Son so we may lift our hands at His love.

Praise the God who splatters the sky with the greatest goodbye and creates the wildest of beginnings in our souls.

And praise Him, who takes a tomb and transforms it into victory, who creates the sweetest life from the deepest of sorrows.

Praise Him, who turns the passing of seasons into the best Resurrection celebration the world has ever seen.

Here’s to the wonder of new life and the God orchestrates it all.

To Him be the praise.

Praise him, sun and moon,
    praise him, all you shining stars!
Praise him, you highest heavens,
    and you waters above the heavens!

Let them praise the name of the Lord!
    For he commanded and they were created.
And he established them forever and ever;
    he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away

Praise the Lord from the earth,
    you great sea creatures and all deeps,
fire and hail, snow and mist,
    stormy wind fulfilling his word!

Mountains and all hills,
    fruit trees and all cedars!
Beasts and all livestock,
    creeping things and flying birds!

Kings of the earth and all peoples,
    princes and all rulers of the earth!
Young men and maidens together,
    old men and children!

Let them praise the name of the Lord,
    for his name alone is exalted;
    his majesty is above earth and heaven.
He has raised up a horn for his people,
    praise for all his saints,
    for the people of Israel who are near to him.
Praise the Lord!

Psalm 148: 3-14