Hello my brothers and sisters! I  pray you are enjoying the favor of the Lord in your life right now.  As I was sitting in my office thinking about what to write this month on my blog, I happened to look at the calendar on my desk and realized we are only 19 days away from the first day of Spring 🙂

Spring is the 3 month transition period between Winter and Summer. The reason I love  Spring is because I know that warmer days are on their way! I don’t have too much of a fondness for the cold, but most Latinos don’t. Spring also signals the melting of the snow some may have received during Winter; and for many cities across our nation, that was a lot of snow.

Another reason I also love Spring is because that is the time when all the flowers begin to bloom. It is also the time I begin to sneeze a lot because of my allergies, but in spite of that I still love Spring; (Achoo!! Excuse me!) 

I read the other day that Spring is seen by some as a time of rebirth, renewal, regrowth or new life. When I read that it really stuck a nerve in me. As I said earlier, I hate the cold and anything that goes along with it. Here in Las Vegas we don’t get as cold as other parts of our nation, but it gets cold enough for me. Also here in Las Vegas we don’t get all that snow in our city as other cities in our nation do; but think about this, if it weren’t for all the snow and rain that come in the Winter storms, we wouldn’t have all the beautiful flowers to enjoy in Spring.

As I thought about that, the Lord began to speak to my heart. Just as the storms, snow and rain that come in the Winter are vital so that we may have those beautiful flowers in the Spring to smell, so are the trials that come in our lives vital for us so that we too can have the beautiful smell of spiritual regrowth, renewal, rebirth in our own lives.

1 Peter 1:6-7 “In this (speaking of the great mercy, hope and inheritance we have received through Christ) you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith, of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire, may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

Psalm 1:1-3 “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by the streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” 

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 2:15-16 “For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?’

Jesus said in John 15:1-3 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”

Where have you been, spiritually speaking, this past Winter? Has the soil of your spiritual life been so tilled this Winter that new growth, new birth, new life can be seen by all? Are you going to produce any Godly flowers in your life that give off a Godly fragrance others can smell from a distance?

Just as Peter said, our trials, our storms help to make our faith genuine so that our life can bring  praise, honor and glory to our Lord! To put it another way, the storms in our lives help to bring beautiful smelling spiritual flowers for all to not only see but enjoy.

Ask the Lord today to make your life fruitful for Him. Ask the Lord to birth new flowers in you today so the smell of new life, new growth will be in your life and watch to see who comes to smell His fragrance in you 🙂