April – Spring (Beginning of New Life)

Early April is a time that stirs vivid childhood memories; waking to frost forests on the bedroom window, walking to school in the chill morning air, then returning in the pale warm sunshine later that afternoon. No wonder the poet T.S. Elliot wrote ‘April is the cruellest month …stirring dull roots with spring rain’ for it’s a time when green buds burst hopefully on trees and bushes in the afternoon sun, only to be discouraged again by the cool evening air and night frosts.

 

Yet April is the time that we most associate with spring and the beginning of new life. All around us we see the natural world springing into activity and we are reminded of God’s goodness in providing the seasons to support the life cycles of every living creature.

 

King David praised the goodness of God as seen in nature.

The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;
the hills are clothed with gladness.
The meadows are covered with flocks
and the valleys are mantled with grain (Psalm 65 v 12 – 13).