Yesterday I blogged about rain. today I woke up to snow, a flood in my basement and a lack of heat and hot water in my house. I have decided not to take that personally.

This afternoon, I had the opportunity to be out for a walk with a friend. It was gorgeous out: bright sunshine, bird song, warm temperatures.

And then we came across these on the lawn of a house on our walking route:

The whole lawn was littered with them. They were everywhere and I just had to take a picture. I couldn’t stop smiling over these, the first crocuses I have seen this Spring.

It got me thinking about the fact that while hope is powerful, hope that has been fulfilled is rather miraculous. Think about a time when you prayed fervently for something and God answered that prayer (maybe not in the way you expected, but in a way that fulfilled the hope you were praying about)…wasn’t it just one of the most beautiful things you have ever experienced? Didn’t you feel like the great God of the universe had taken time it answer you, to care about you, to love you? Don’t you go back to that memory whenever your faith needs a shot in the arm?

I have been praying for Spring for a while now – knowing that it was on it’s way and knowing it would have to come eventually. But to see the crocus…it was the thing I’ve hoped for made real. And it was the most beautiful flower I have seen in a long time.

Jesus is all the deepest things that our hearts hope for, in the Flesh. In his coming to be with us, in his teaching, in his miracles and in that ultimate, beautiful laying down of his life and then defeating death as he rose from the grave. All of it was designed to make us right with God, to win our forgiveness and our eternal life. It is a very good thing to think about during Lent.

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.
1 Peter 1:3-5 NLT