We are in the heart of spring. My grandfather used to teach me that this is the time of year when God refreshes things after the season of winter. It is a time of new growth as well as the excitement for all God is doing in awakening a new season of planting and taking care of His creation. Of course, this is in anticipation of what will be happening during the heavy growing season this summer.
Then, after the growing season of summer, we reach the time of the harvest and the bringing in of crops before the ground lies fallow – a time of rejuvenation until God makes all things new again next spring. But there is far more than growing going on. Each fall, we prepare for the end of the season. We bring in the lawn furniture, pull the annuals from the yard, prepare the perennials for the winter ahead and bring the hoses inside so they don’t freeze in the cold of winter.
I also usually do things like wash the bird feeders, change the mats in the cars to the rubber ones to ward off ice and snow, trim bushes and all the other other things that batten down the house for the the impending freezing weather.
That means that when spring arrives and we get all excited about new growth and seeing the early spring flowers, we must also consider all the other things that must happen to properly usher in the new spring and summer seasons. Around our neighborhood, this is a time of planting annuals, putting the hoses out, cleaning out the garage, setting up the lawn furniture and a host of other chores that announce the arrival of a new year.
One of the things that I have come to dread is the power washing of the upper deck, including the railings and furniture. To make matters worse, we had a tough winter that resulted in a greater than normal amount of dirt on everything. Now most of the things I have already worked on, including cleaning the grills and the smoker. But the power washing thing has been left to near last on the list.
Then, the pots can get planted and everything can be finished so our son, Andrew, and I can listen to the Indy 500 race next Sunday. We have done that since he was a little boy, for 42 years now, just as I did with my father as far back as I can remember. I have grown to dislike working during the race – it’s pure father-son time – plain and simple.
Today, one of our son-in-laws, Matt, and I tackled this most horrible of jobs. We finally finished late this afternoon and I couldn’t have done it without him. The last several years, I have hired it done but the company had a change of personnel and decided to not offer power washing this year.
We worked hard and I must admit that I am dog tired. Tonight was one of the rare times that I really thought about skipping the post, but I just couldn’t let that happen. However, it wasn’t difficult to come up with a topic! What does God say about being tired? Really tired? I know that we are to help one another, and Matt sure stepped up to assist me today. In fact, he always does. He undoubtedly has the spiritual gift of helps – at least in greater abundance than I do.
Now Matt is no spring chicken himself but he has much more energy than I do. And I couldn’t help but recall how much more stamina I had twenty years ago, when I was his age – or even longer ago than that.
So, let’s get right to it. The verse for tonight is from the prophet Isaiah. He tells us, in Isaiah 40:30-31, “Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
So Isaiah isn’t speaking only of us older guys – everybody gets tired eventually. And the good news is that God is there to give us strength and help carry our burden. Jesus even alludes to this many times in the New Testament. He invites us to give Him our burden for His load is light. But Isaiah calls out our younger people as well. My encouragement this evening is that God is there with us always, even when we are dead tired, as I am tonight. My prayer is that God will keep us healthy, help us deal with reasonable loads of work to do and continue to walk beside us when the work becomes overwhelming. That way we can depend on Him to get us through. With that promise of God, how could I not write a post tonight! Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace… and thank you Matt. I sure enjoyed you walking beside me today. Thank you!