As dying and behold we live

2 Cor. 6:9

When an Early frosts comes,

the radiant beauty of our flowers

are seared!

The frost is too much for them

and they perish

We dislike it,

it’s like a graveyard of flowers

But, in time

they come back up

in great abundance

every plant that winter destroys

comes back in multiplied growth.

What did those frosts do?

They kill them,

they smash them to the ground,

they stomp the fragile buds

with snowy feet.

The winter boasts

“This is the end of you.”

But in spring new witnesses

rise up and say

“By death we live.”

We learn from flowers

that by death comes new life

By crucifixion and the sepulchre

comes the throne and the palace

of our Eternal God.

By overthrow comes victory

To suffer is harsh

To get smashed is mean.

But it is by being cast down

and not destroyed;

it is by being shaken to pieces

and our pieces torn to shreds,

that we mature

and become mighty

Dont yield to the appearance

of things

God is working

There is blossoming,

there is momentary prosperity

and then what looks like the end,

but it isn’t the end.

Beecher.

“We Measure our life

not by loss and not by gain,

Not by what we take in,

but by what we pour out.

For love’s strength

stands in love’s sacrifice,

And he who suffers most

has most to give.”

Through death

comes resurrection life.

Through our dying to our selves

we open to Christ’s life within.

“My beloved spoke

and said to me,

Arise, my darling,

my beautiful one,

come with me.

See! The winter is past;

the rains are over and gone.

Flowers appear on the earth;

the season of singing has come,

the cooing of doves is heard

in our land.

The fig tree forms its early fruit;

the blossoming vines

spread their fragrance.

Our Lord says:

Arise, come, my darling;

my beautiful one,

come with me.”

Song of Solomon 2:10-13

Hear, O LORD

and be gracious to us;

O LORD, be our helper.”

You have turned for us

our mourning into dancing;

You have loosed our sackcloth

and girded us with joy,

Psalms 30:10-11

Those who have found their life

will lose it,

Those who have lost their life

for Jesus sake will find it.

“If a grain of wheat falls

on the ground

it will never be more than one grain

unless it dies.

But if it dies,

it will produce lots of wheat”

Matt. 10:39

For it’s in His death and life

that we find life