Spring is Springing - Nanette M. Holloway

Spring is springing with warmer temperatures, longer days, buds swelling and early growth of bulbs emerging from dominancy. A welcome sight after the long winter months.

Paralleling the change of season, is the season of Lent.

My personal approach to Lent is getting back on track spiritually through introspection. In other words, a heart check. Am I in tune with the Holy spirit? Are there areas with my life that aren’t pleasing to God? Or does God want to guide me into greater communion with Himself or in service to others?

Then I’m reminded of the Parable of the Sower: A helpful verse during Lent.

Parable of the Sower:

“Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred” (Mark 4:3-8 NKJV)>

My prayer is that my heart is good ground. Is the soil tilled and soft, full of rich compost? Will it produce the fruit that God desires?

My next prayer is that God will create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirt within me. Amen.

God’s Whisper

My Beloved, submit and yield your heart to my tending. Let me break up the hardness. Or the beginning of a root of bitterness remiss in your mind. Or is it the stubborn nature that you hesitate to yield? Perhaps an unforgiveness from a deep hurt unfairly dealt by the unknowing sinner. One blinded by a calloused, transgressed heart hardened and untended by my loving kindness?
Beloved, I beckon you—attend to this hardened spot. Yield the hurt to me. Allow the tendrils that keep the hurt recessed to be loosened and released. The pain dulled. But your joy clouded. Keeping you from ultimate freedom.
Surrender all my Beloved and allow me to create in you a clean heart and right spirit.
Praise me as I put a new song in your heart.
Love, the Father

You name it—What’s God speaking to your heart in this season of Lent?