Winter cast a cold shadow. The days are short. The nights are long. The sun seems shy, hidden behind the grayness.

Warmth has packed her bags and migrated to the tropics. Yet, April means Spring and can beach weather be far off?

April will bring showers instead of snow flurries and eventually blossoms. Our Forsythias Bush is already budding yellow leaves. Grass will need mowed and flowers planted; and by the end of the month, farmers will be planting corn.

Winter seems dreary. Trees extend skeletal limbs, fields are frosty, roads can be dangerous, but Spring brings hope. Spring brings life! Trees bud, and leaves appear, and life begins anew after Winter’s rest.

Is it Winter where you are? Are you trapped in a perpetual gloom? Do you know the solstice of sunless days and barren trees? Do you wonder if Spring will ever come? Winters are a part of life—some personal, some global—but all are powerful. Try as we might to bundle up and lean into the wind, the heartiest among us can fall to the Winter doldrums.

If that describes you, God has a six-letter word of encouragement for you:

SPRING!

It’s as if God, in His kind providence, heard all the prayers of all the souls who have been stuck in an arctic February. To every person who has longed to see the green of Spring, He says, “Follow Me. I want you to see what I can do.”

May hope and life spring eternal in the Shippensburg CBC this SPRING!

Pastor Wayne Hall

As Spring blooms ever more brightly, it seems the earth is making a joyful noise to the Lord, breaking into songs of praise! (See Psalm 98:4)