The beauty and difficulty of a taste of spring

I've been loving the Spring weather we've been having up here in WV. I think its even supposed to get up to the mid 70's today.

Unfortunately it will get a bit colder and rainier for the weekend. And I'm sure there are a few more cold fronts to come, so it wouldn't surprise me if we got some more snow. In some ways, this warming trend has been incredibly helpful to me personally: I can once again wear flip-flops and Connar can play outside.

On the other hand, this taste of spring makes me yearn for more of spring. So when that taste of spring meets up with my experience of winter, this can also be quite difficult. I mean if another arctic cold front comes through, it will probably feel worse in some ways since I know exactly what I'm missing.

This spring fever parallels the experience of the Christian. We get a little taste of heaven throughout our Christian walk. Sometimes that taste comes through singing, hearing the Word preached, marital benefits, the brilliance of a piece of art, music, movie, or simply, the actual season of spring. But its a taste and not the whole thing.

So when we find ourselves fully satisfied with this world, that Jesus could just take his sweet old time returning and making all things new, we should be alerted that something is not right with us. After all, the penultimate verse of the bible is, "Come Lord Jesus, come. "

And when we find ourselves not fully satisfied in this world, we should be reminded that it is not because we "still haven't found what we're looking for," but that as Bono later sang, "Yahweh, always pain before the child is born."

In conclusion, Christians get a taste of heaven which satisfies us along the journey, but that satisfaction will not be complete THIS side of heaven. That taste will leave us longing for more.