you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near;
We are called to be ready. We are called to be prepared. For what? This world is radically subject to the powers of change and decay. We must be ready to let it change. We must have on loose grip on things down here. We must use the things of this world as though not using them. This world in its present form is passing away (cf. 1 Cor. 7:31). It is subjected to this futility because of a greater hope. It is the hope of the blossom and of summer. Even now it is "groaning as in the pains of childbirth" (cf. Rom. 8:18-22). We need to be ready to leave the bud behind. This can be frightening. It feels like leaving a place of safety. But we are meant to blossom toward the light of Jesus. We are meant to leave the safety of the bud and exist and be beautiful for more than just our own sake. The bud is not meant to be our final home. Here we have no lasting city (cf. Heb. 13:14). It will pass away, along with the rest of earth. But we are flowers which are meant for heaven.
Heaven and earth will pass away,
but my words will not pass away.
Jesus and his words are the source of our life. His words allow us to blossom even amidst the changing winds and stormy seas of a passing world.
Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them (cf. Eze. 47:12).
He is preparing a new and better world for us. He himself is the first flower of this new world in the resurrection. His cross sheds the bud of the old life of sin and death for all of us. His resurrection is the dawn that breaks from on high on a people who otherwise live in darkness and the shadow of death (cf. Luk. 1:78).
Peter also reminds us that the Word of God is the light that allows us to grow even in a dark world. He says, "you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts"
Even now we see and grow toward a light which will one day pervade all things.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.
The former heaven and the former earth had passed away,
and the sea was no more.
I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
It will be a place where we do not need light from lamps or the sun because Jesus himself will be our light (cf. Rev. 22:5). In his light we shall see light (cf. Psa. 36:9). The light is a lot to take in all at once. "There is nothing covered that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known" (cf. Mat. 10:26). But God, in his mercy, strips us of the worldly bud gradually lest our delicate flowers be destroyed. Still, as he does so, let us humble ourselves under God's power so that in due time we may exult in the light of heaven (cf. 1 Pet. 5:6). Let's trust that he knows best. Let us trust that he is helping us to grow into flowers of the everlasting summer. With this trust we free him to work within us in the ways which he so desires to work.
We are not meant to be like the grass the withers and fades (cf. Psa. 37:2). We are meant to be strong.
Blessed the men whose strength you are!
They go from strength to strength.
We are invited to the very permanence of God. All we need to do is drink deeply from the Word of God, because it is the Word which does not pass away.
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever (cf. Isa. 40:8)
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