The Fog Lifts

This time of year the daffodils and dogwoods begin to bloom, dotting the grayness of late winter with brilliant color.  The earth stirs from its winter slumber and new life is evident in the plant world as well as in the animal kingdom.  Just the other day I noticed a pasture with baby calves leaping around and enjoying the beautiful sunlit day.

My mind turns back a few years -- three to be exact -- when my late husband and I spent a whole day looking for bluebonnets in Texas.  We found the purplish blue flowers in fields that stretched as far as the eye could see.  A truly amazing and spectacular sight indeed!  I am very thankful for that spring day because of the memories we made looking at the Creator's handiwork.

But this year there is another stirring in my heart as the Lenten season progresses toward the Cross. There has been a renewing within that has been for several years buried in a deep "widow's fog." The renewing has come through scripture, through events, through devotionals and through self-examination.  God has impressed on me that clinging to the past -- the way things once were -- is not His way of doing things.  God is always pushing us forward -- toward eternity.

Does that mean we are to forget the past and our loved ones who once existed in this life?  No.  Their memories are to be treasured because they are precious and because they are part of who we are.  Yet to make the past an object of worship is impeding forward progress.

Therefore, it's time for me to unload the baggage, quit holding on to things past, empty the closets and cupboards of unnecessary ideas and objects, and get back to living life to the fullest -- which, for me, means living the way God directs me to -- always giving Him praise and honor in everything I do.  There is no other way I want to live -- simply for God!