Spring Green

Daily Gratitude Year 4-Day 94: Today, I am grateful for "spring green".

Every once in a while...I choose a color from my Crayola big box of crayons...and celebrate the color. Spring green! It has always been my favorite green in the box.

It is the color of new life popping out on the trees, bursting from the dark earth and the land coming to life once again. Winter is over and hope is renewed...and it's first color is "spring green".

The birds that sang on the bare, dismal colorless branches, now sing surrounded by color. Is their song a little sweeter? Is it a different tune? The leaves provide a regal theater curtain for their daily concerts.

The afternoon sun...as the days grow warmer...is softened by the filtering leaves. There is such perfect harmony in God's creation.

Green indicates health and life. As we collect more years...we cherish the moments we feel "young" and "spring green" a little more. Perhaps, spring has a deeper meaning as we truly recognize how quickly life moves. Each cycle of the seasons is a gift of his grace.

Psalm 92 is a "Song for the Sabbath". Perfect for a Sunday. These verses stood out:  

"The righteous flourish like the palm tree

    and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 They are planted in the house of the Lord;
    they flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They still bear fruit in old age;
    they are ever full of sap and green,
15 to declare that the Lord is upright;

    he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him." -Psalm 92:12-15

I, especially, love "they still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green". This is a reflection of a life lived chasing after the heart of God. I know, I have seen first hand.  

I know men and women with many more years than I, but they live each day with a vibrancy and energy I hope to obtain and maintain as I age. They spend each day in service to their Lord and continue to water, weed and bear fruit for the kingdom. They are "spring green" in the winter of their life. I am grateful for their example and the challenge they lay before those of us who follow in their footsteps.

Today, I am grateful for "spring green"...in my crayon box and for those who keep "spring green" in their hearts all the days of their lives.